Sword Art Online: Alternate Feelings
by Anayea Winter
Summary: In a completely different spin on the well known story, SAO: Alternate Feelings ventures into the idea of if Kazuto Kirigaya had a different setting when growing up. This changes the story immensely, and has inspiration as well from the video game Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment. *Warning* This has a slightly more feminine tone to Kazuto out of personal context of the author.
1. Chapter 1

"Kazuto! It's time to head out for your archery lesson!"

He just then finished tying his hair up in the scrunchy he received the day before for his birthday from his best friend. Some of his hair wouldn't pull back into the hanging pony tail, but he liked the bangs which covered his forehead. His hair was as smooth as silk, and a calming pure black. As a seven year old, Kazuto Kirigaya was a perfect picture for androgyny. He looked more like a girl than a boy, but there was no denying he was a boy at the right times.

He hurried down the hall to the stairs from his bedroom to the living area where his mother was waiting for him to make sure he was ready.

"Why are you wearing your gift from her already? You're going to get it ruined during your lesson and it'll make her sad. Just wear your hair tie like usual."

She always scolded him for making decisions that went along with his feminine nature for fashion and honestly...he liked being called cute more than cool. After begrudgingly switching back to his regular hair tie and packing the scrunchy in his archery equipment's empty space on the side, he ran out the front door to meet his best friend and one of the primary reasons for being as androgynous as he was. Asada Shino. Her younger brother was watching on from in front of the door of their house as she waited for him.

"You're slow this morning Kazu-neechan!"

Her younger brother Shiro enjoyed taunting and referring to Kazuto as either an older brother or older sister, depending on the way Kazuto was dressing himself. The dressing habits stemmed from a little playfulness from his mother when he was even smaller, but playtime with Shino sometimes landed him in her clothes and her in his clothes as they would switch roles playing imaginary games such as house or princes and princesses. More of the time Kazuto ended up playing the boy role either way, and Shino ended up playing the girl role, just because it felt more natural to them.

Shino seemed a little distressed about something regarding Kazuto's appearance, and he knew why right away. She seemed to give up on her frustration temporarily and turned away.

Kazuto followed Shino to her mother's car which was waiting to take them to the archery hall for their practice. When they got inside the vehicle, Shino finally spoke up about what was bothering her.

"You didn't wear it today..."

"I was wearing it! It's right here in my bag!"

He pulled the scrunchy out of his bag to show her that he wasn't lying. She still pouted, and the car began rolling out of the driveway and onto the street.

"But you aren't wearing it..."

"I was! Mom got mad and told me I was going to ruin it during practice and made me switch to a regular hair band. Smell it! It has the smell of my shampoo on it!"

He was desperate for her to forgive him for not wearing the scrunchy. She trusted him enough to take the scrunchy from him and smell it for proof. The scent was there and she continued to hold onto it and smell it for a while.

"We should trade shampoo next..."

They both blushed after she said it. She didn't do it often, but sometimes she said something embarrassing to both of them.

The archery hall wasn't very far from their homes, so they weren't driven sometimes if they were up and out of their homes early enough to walk there. The car stopped and they knew they arrived. Kazuto and Shino hopped out of the car and waved to Shino's mother who waved before pulling away from the parking lot to drive back home.

"Since you aren't wearing it, I'll wear it."

"What if it does get ruined though?"

"I'll buy you another one."

They pushed their way in through the heavy glass doors into the archery hall's entrance room and tucked their shoes into their labelled spaces by the left wall.

"Don't ruin it. I don't want you spending so much of your chore money on me."

"I want to."

She was a little less spoken than Kazuto was. Whenever they were together and conversing, it was often other kids would ask why Shino wasn't talking so much with her girlfriend. Neither of them would let something like that go, and it usually turned into a bit of a fight where Kazuto would show off what he gained through lessons.

When they stepped in to the range, they were greeted by the teacher and told to join everyone else. Like usual, they were a little late.

"Late again~"

"It was obviously princess Kazuto. Shino seems like she would never be late without him holding her back."

The other kids were shushed by the teacher. When everyone was seated, he stood and began running through the schedule for the day. As punishment for being late, Kazuto and Shino would take the first shots at the targets, and would clean and restring all the bows at the end of the lesson.

Kazuto took the lead on the target practice, and as usual he was unexpectedly good for a child. The arrows flew smoothly and struck solid into the target a little off centre. After his five shots, one to each target, it was Shino's turn. She was equally as good as Kazuto, although her strength wasn't quite as solid so her arrows didn't fly as smooth. They still struck near centre, but sometimes they would bounce and fall instead of striking through. It was a good evening for her as all five arrows pierced their targets, though not all of them were near the centre. When they retook their seats, the others began their turns practising their shooting.

"So?"

The teacher was asking why Kazuto and Shino were late yet again.

"Mom made me switch hair band this morning. I was wearing Shino's birthday present to me, but Mom said I would ruin it during practice."

Shino took the scrunchy she didn't end up wearing from her pocket and put it in Kazuto's hand to show the proof.

"I was going to wear it if he wouldn't, but he really didn't want it to be ruined, so I put it in my pocket and we took even more time to show up."

Kazuto and Shino were known for being very mature especially with the lessons of diligence from their classes in martial arts. They also took kendo lessons on weekends with Kazuto's cousin, Suguha who lived in another prefecture. With all their lessons, they were quite fearsome if any bullies decided to pick on them, and they were unfortunately targeted often.

"I see...Indeed a frilly hair band would get ruined during archery practice. You should take care of nice things when you can. Why not save the scrunchy for school or your days off?"

Actually, they didn't often have days off. Archery lessons were held after school Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays, while Kendo occupied both days of the weekend. Tuesdays and Thursdays were often packed with homework from school, though they did do that together. Wearing the scrunchy at school would also risk it with the bullies going after them. The only occasion they could think of for Kazuto to wear it was on holidays, and those were so few and far between.

The two of them sulked over the issue of not being able to wear it without it getting ruined. The sulking didn't last long before their turns came up again for practice shots at the targets.

They didn't cheer up until the lesson ended. Then they complained about being hungry.

"Don't forget to do your cleaning duty. I will be here doing a little bit, but you have to do your part. When you're finished I'll let you out."

Kazuto and Shino did have a little fun with cleaning most of the time. They did a good job, but when they were about done, they would slide around on the smooth hard wood floors until the teacher would tell them it was time to go. The true end of their lessons was when they exited the doors of the hall and started walking back home. The night was usually dark enough that the street lights would turn on and they would hold hands out of habit to make sure each other was safe on the walk home. Both of them considered it as if they were protecting a frail girl, but they knew they could handle any situation as long as an adult didn't attack them.

Just as always though, the trip home was safe, and when Kazuto left Shino at the door, he was stopped by Shiro.

"Kazu-nii! You aren't wearing onee-chan's gift!"

"I didn't want to ruin it Shiro. I want it to stay pretty right?"

He pouted, but it didn't take long for him to cheer up.

"Good night Kazu-nii. Onee-chan loves you!"

He dashed back into the house before she could get her hands on him, but she tried.

"Good night Kazuto."

After saying her goodnight to Kazuto, she closed the door behind her and the sound of footsteps thundering through the house could be heard as she chased him. Life was very lively for the three. Kazuto loved spending his days with Shino and Shiro. It was even more fun when he thought about the weekends when his cousin Suguha would make a fuss about Shino always tagging along, treating Kazuto like an older brother and always just adding another role to their playtime.

Kazuto grew up having a lot of fun. Life was good for him, and he made the most of it, even with the bullies.


	2. Chapter 2

"Kazu-neechan! Onee-chan is already here!"

It was the beginning of the weekend after Shino's tenth birthday. It had already been three years since Kazuto received his first scrunchy, and he wore it in his hair along with a dress that was given to him for his ninth birthday from Shiro. Kazuto's hair had grown quite long at this point, and when it wasn't tied up, it reached the bottom of his waist.

He was often teased by Shiro and Shino that he didn't have a boy's waist, that it was thin and curved like Shino's. He wasn't allowed to go swimming without wearing at least a shirt as far as they were concerned, and when they went to the beach for Shino's birthday...they made him wear a spare swimsuit of Shino's. With a skirt hiding his boyhood, he wore a bikini top, and the time at the beach was as if normal. Not one person noticed he was a boy outside of their group. Other boys at the beach did express dissatisfaction that even though Kazuto was wearing a bikini top he didn't have any breasts, but it didn't make a difference since Shino wore the same thing and didn't have any to show at the time either. They were only children after all.

With that memory in his mind, Kazuto was nervous to see Shino in the dress. He was beginning to become very aware that although he liked girls' clothes, he was embarrassed to be seen in them unless it was his family and Shino's family. He wanted to hurry and change into boys' clothes because it would be the first time he dressed like a girl in front of his cousin Suguha.

With a big gulp, he closed his bedroom door and headed down the stairs to meet with Shino and Shiro. The three of them were taking lessons together at this point, and although Shiro was clumsy and still learning, it was fun having him along.

The issue was how he would handle Suguha and her parents reacting to him wearing girls' clothes. Kazuto's parents weren't worried about it in the slightest which made him even more worried.

"You look so pretty in the dress! I'm proud of the decision on that one for you. It was worth waiting a year for you to finally wear it."

Shiro was definitely proud of the look. Kazuto still hadn't grown masculine enough for the female clothes to look out of place on him. To add to it, his face hadn't grown masculine at all. His body wasn't growing any hair besides that on his head, and it made him wonder if he was really a girl and his boyhood was a lie somehow.

"Ugh, let's just go Shiro. I want to change back to my regular clothes after Sugu and her parents have seen it. I don't even want them to see it...!"

Kazuto was heavily distressed to be wearing the dress. It bothered him that he was so nervous wearing it outside after the swimsuit had made his state of mind on gender obvious. The swimsuit was obviously worse, and he had gotten used to wearing it. That was what bothered him. Getting used to it. Would he also get used to the dress?

Shino seemed to be impressed with his appearance when they got outside and she waited beside his mother's car.

"If I were a boy, I'd be confessing my feelings to you right now Kazuto. You're really cute in the dress. I'm surprisingly proud of Shiro's eye for fashion..."

She kept staring at him with an expression that they saw a lot of at the beach when they were both being ogled by perverts. She wore much more boyish clothes with her long shorts and baggy t-shirt. Kazuto felt a little flutter in his chest when he saw her looking so impressive. She had such clear eyes when she looked at him in female clothes. It was hard for him to keep his mind straight when he saw her like that.

"Get in the car kids, Suguha-chan is already waiting for you."

He followed Shino into the car, putting her in the middle of the back seats. Shiro sat on her other side. Kazuto was reminded that Shino recently had an appointment with the optometrist which had her wearing glasses. When he imagined her wearing glasses with her cool boyish clothes today, his heart started beating faster and his face flushed warm and prickly in embarrassment.

He looked away from her and out the window, trying to distract himself as the car travelled the streets and freeways until they reached the district that he was familiar with. The district which was more dominated with large buildings until they reached the residential district. The residential was close to a tourist landmark which was more natural than other places in the area. A place which was considered castle grounds, a massive park with a small castle in the centre which was separated from the rest of Japan, as if a country of its own within the largest city of Japan.

His studies had expanded quite a lot since his ninth birthday. He wanted to start playing video games more often as an expression of being a boy, although Shino did share that interest with him. He continued his researching and delving further into gaming when they weren't at school or taking their martial arts lessons, he was absorbed into the games, and research of further gaming. Apparently there was a company which was making progress into a type of gaming he felt he would do much better at. He was okay at some video games, but the promise of virtual reality gaming being nearby made him excited.

The car stopped when he imagined being able to play a valiant hero in a virtual reality game sometime in the near future.

"Finally here! You took so long today. Onii-chan, you better get out of the car right now!"

Suguha's voice brought Kazuto out of his imagination of virtual reality gaming, and Shino pushed him out of the car. Kazuto's mind froze as his body stood up after finding its balance being pushed out of the car. Shino followed behind him and Suguha just stared.

"Did you finally get a haircut Onii-chan?"

She looked at Shino when she asked that question, but when Shino turned her face to Suguha, the question was answered. Suguha couldn't deny that the person wearing a cute frilly light blue dress with silky long black hair was her beloved cousin she referred to as an older brother.

"I think it's about time you start calling Kazu-neechan Onee-chan, Sugu-neechan."

Shiro was being even more cheeky than usual.

"Onii-chan?"

Suguha didn't want to believe what she heard from Shiro. When Kazuto's mind finally started working properly again, he immediately argued what Shiro said.

"They made me wear this! Shiro bought it with his allowance for my birthday last year and I never even touched it. Them and Mom worked together and made me wear it! She said I should wear it for them before I outgrow it...Darn it, Sugu, I don't like dressing like this."

Shiro seemed ready for anything Kazuto might argue, because he started pulling picture after picture of Kazuto wearing female clothes since they were little out of his kendo bag.

"Kazu-neechan has been dressing like this for a long time Sugu-neechan."

Suguha started crying silently and ran away into the house to escape the pictures Shiro started trying to show her.

"Shiro you jerk! Give me those pictures! They need to be burned! You made Sugu cry!"

Kazuto was furious. After the situation with the pictures and the reveal, Kazuto finally changed to his regular clothes in the washroom of the main floor of the house. He tied his hair back and glared at his reflection. He was tempted to cut his hair. He liked the feeling of his hair being long, but if it was part of what made Suguha cry, it almost washed away the attachment he had to it being long.

When he stepped out of the washroom, Suguha was standing there with her cheeks and eyes a little red from crying.

"Onii-chan...sorry. If you like wearing girls' clothes, it's okay. It's Onii-chan's hobby right? It's fine..."

While she was saying it, he tried coming up with something that would convince her otherwise, but she was convinced he really liked wearing girls' clothes. Probably because of Shiro explaining it to her the wrong way. Maybe Shino also intended to sabotage his friendship with Suguha.

"It's...not like that Sugu. I'm a boy and I don't like being called a girl... Mom used to dress me up like a girl because my face...is girly. That caught on with Shino and Shiro and Shino would switch clothes with me. I didn't mind for a long time, but this year I realized I feel embarrassed wearing girls' clothes. I've been playing video games and other boy stuff too. Today was an exception. I didn't even want to dress in it, but Mom said it was a good chance before I outgrow this dress and Shiro spent his allowance on it for my birthday last year. I never wore it before today."

Suguha seemed to cheer up a little as she heard Kazuto explain himself.

"I would feel bad for the dress not being worn, so for the dress it's okay. No more dressing like a girl though if you really meant it when you said you aren't like that any more."

She fidgeted a little and finished saying something else which bothered her.

"It made me really worried that you might think Shino is really cool and were dating her as a girl while she looks like such a cool boy."

Kazuto was caught off guard and he was reminded of how cool Shino looked to him that morning and his face flushed and his heart pounded.

"You really do like her that way! Onii-chan you jerk! Idiot! Pervert!"

She ran away again before he could explain himself again, but there was no excuse for his reaction to his memory of Shino making his heart beat like that. He sighed in defeat and hung his head, his hair flopping over his shoulder.

"You do have a crush on Onee-chan..."

Shiro was standing on the staircase above where it all happened.

"Now, do you like her as a girl, or as a boy?"

Kazuto chased him in a goal to shut him up. It didn't take long before he caught him and put tape meant for his kendo sword handle over Shiro's mouth and pinned him to the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

"Kazuto, it's breakfast time."

The call was from his father for the first in a long time. For the most part, his father was busy with work early in the morning so he was usually out of the house before Kazuto was awake. Kazuto arrived in the kitchen in his pyjamas nearly stumbling down the stairs rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His hair was a mess, though with longer hair like that, the weight and length pulled down and the longer sections fell to his waist almost normally. The rest of his hair was all over the place though.

"Going to fix your hair a little bit?"

Kazuto's mother seemed to be ready to question the state of consciousness of her son. In his response, after sitting down in his spot, he pulled his fingers through his hair until he didn't feel it sticking out anywhere he wasn't used to it sticking out. There was a permanent semi-cowlick on his right side which ended up becoming a rather wavy strand of hair as his hair grew longer. It was actually a sign that his hair would be a little wavy when it grew longer. With a yawn, he finished and started eating the more fancy breakfast his mother would make sometimes, miso soup with a rice and sushi side. It was very healthy and good for breakfast.

"Today is a day off from school right? It doesn't mean you should slack off. You do still have archery practice this evening."

His father was very strict whenever he was around. Kazuto wasn't as fond of his father as he was of his mother. The little bit he was around for in Kazuto's life, he was criticizing and always playing the act of an uncaring person uninvolved. Just an adult scolding a child, not parental feel to him at all.

"Oh, Shino is still sick isn't she? Her mother was hoping you would watch her and Shiro today since school is out. She has work and can't miss today. Make sure as soon as you finish eating you go and clean up before heading over."

Kazuto nodded his head and finished taking the last bite of his breakfast. When he finished eating, he picked up the dishes and brought them over to the sink before scrubbing them clean in the prepared warm soap water and rinsing them off. He placed them in the drying rack. One point needed to be pointed out while he did so. He needed to use a step stool to reach into the sink and to the drying rack. Kazuto was still rather short at the age of eleven. He and Shino were very close in age, height and shape. They sometimes were confused for twins, but their personalities were different enough that any suspicion of being related was quickly put out. They didn't used to fight the idea of being siblings. It wasn't until after Shiro started talking about them being perfect as a couple. After the visit with Suguha when she first saw Kazuto wearing female clothes.

Kazuto went back upstairs to grab some clothes before returning to the washroom downstairs. Recently, he had been putting off cleaning up until after doing some breathing and stretching exercises as well as some swings with his bamboo sword for kendo practice. He and Suguha were matched as the best in their kendo class, and soon they would be judged as to whether they could compete nationally.

Because of being hurried to take care of Shino and Shiro, he cleaned up first instead. It bothered him whenever he cleaned himself up. In the shower, the only thing that would hide his feminine figure which only didn't grow breasts was his long hair. His waist had barely filled in, but he still had a thin and curved waist compared to other boys. He was nervous and angry that he couldn't change like normal with other boys for physical education classes at school. He had to change alone in the washroom. It was even something enforced by the teachers.

When Kazuto finally finished cleaning his body and hair, he wound his hair in a towel like how his mother had taught him and he left it to dry while he put on his pants and a zip up hooded sweater. He also spread moisturizer on his face arms and legs since it was something his mother taught him to do since he had such nice feminine skin. After about ten minutes of letting his hair dry in the towel, he gripped his hair in the towel again to get as much of the moisture in the towel before letting it go. His wet hair fell down and some landed in his hood which sent him off balance for a split second. When he pushed his hair out of the hood to start combing and straightening it, he became aware of the temptation to get it cut. He was so emotionally attached to having his hair long that any haircuts ended up only being trims so that the ends wouldn't become unhealthy. He did have a part of him that wanted to cut his hair, but that part of him was overthrown by the sheer strength of his bond with having it long. His hair had been long for most of his life after all.

His hair finished drying with the assistance of the family hair dryer. Kazuto's cleaning routine took as usual around half an hour. It was longer than Shino's routine, and she actually was a girl. The difference was the length of hair. Shino kept hers a much shorter and more manageable length. Hers only reached to the bottom of her neck at the longest.

Kazuto didn't bother tying his hair up that morning, but he did grab the newer scrunchy gift to him from her from his dresser and some lighter clothes and put them in his small travel bag before returning to the kitchen to say goodbye to his mother for the day. His father was already gone.

"I'm heading out now Mom."

"Oh, please bring this over for Shino. I've prepared some rice for you to make into porridge for her. We didn't eat everything from breakfast so she might as well have some of it since it can help against the cold. Also, I'm not sure what her mother keeps for miso soup ingredients, I have some leftovers from our breakfast you can cook up for her lunch. It might be a little odd to have two breakfast meals in a day, but that's the way it is when you're sick..."

She seemed to be in full Mom mode that morning. She seemed to be thinking about other things she might be missing, but when she couldn't think of anything else to give Kazuto before he would leave, she looked at him and smiled.

"I'm really glad I taught you how to cook. For times like this and when you eventually move out, it'll be very helpful you can take care of yourself and a special person in your life. Friends count too of course. Take good care of Shino and Shiro today okay? Oh, that reminded me of one last thing to bring..."

She reached into one drawer where Kazuto knew medical items were. She pulled out a scarf meant for a caretaker to ensure germs didn't spread to their face when taking care of someone sick. It was a thin light scarf which was covered in a flowery pink pattern that reminded him all these qualities he was taught were considered feminine.

"I'll be fine without that! If I get sick after taking care of her, then she can take care of me when she's better. Thank you Mom. I'm heading out."

He couldn't help but smile whenever she smiled at him though, and she smiled as he turned to leave out the door.

The early morning street was quiet. Not a vehicle was driving across. It was the earliest Kazuto was out of the house in a long time. When he knocked at the front door to the Asada family house, the voice which answered was letting him in. It was Shino's mother.

"Thank you for coming over today Kazu-chan. Oh...it seems your mother really knows me well. I haven't been able to get my head straight this morning. Let me help you make the porridge for Shino."

He shook his head. Although she meant well, she was actually a mess in the kitchen. He could recall many meals he ate with the family when his parents were absent for overtime with work. Only the meals which couldn't be failed at all like a broth soup were within her capability not to make a mistake with. She had a bad history with the porridge.

"I'll be fine Asada-san. You have work right?"

Reminded that she had an early day for work, she nodded her head and hurried over to grab her keys. At least she was dressed. She was forgetting her purse though which was on the stairs, a bad place to leave it.

"Your purse Asada-san."

She hurriedly grabbed up her purse and turned to face Kazuto.

"Thank you so much. Please take good care of Shino and Shiro today."

She left the house...without the keys. She had put them back down when she grabbed the purse. When she was in a hurry, she was so nervous. Actually, she was a nervous person overall. Sometimes, that could be seen on Shino. Kazuto could only feel happy seeing that kind of similarity.

When she returned to grab her keys he ignored it so that she could escape a little embarrassment. In the mean time, he started getting ready to prepare the porridge. There would be enough that Shiro could have a full meal too. He mentally gave a prod to his Mom for thinking so far ahead and cooking so much for breakfast. When he finished doing the preparations so that the porridge could boil, he took the chance to lock the door since that had been forgotten as well.

"Breakfast smells...good?"

Shiro stepped off the staircase to the kitchen and rubbed his eyes.

"Oh, of course. Good morning Kazu-neechan. Mom's food never tastes or smells good..."

He was...brutally honest. He hated bad food because of how often food turned out bad when his mother cooked. It was better at least when Shino cooked, but his favourite food was either from eating out or when Kazuto was over for a day. Apparently the exact type of food a cool older sister would be able to make.

"Rice porridge? At least it's better than Mom's food. I guess you'd be cooking for Onee-chan anyway since that's why you're over today in the first place. Even sick people food is amazing when Kazu-neechan makes it."

His praise of Kazuto's cooking wasn't making him happy.

"Breakfast will be ready in a minute. Get a bowl and spoon ready for yourself and Shino."

Kazuto had become used to handling Shiro...it was just the times when he was being insistent on them becoming a romantic pair that Kazuto couldn't handle him.

The breakfast was ready shortly after Shiro finished setting the bowls on the counter.

"Can you bring me a tray for Shino's breakfast? I'll bring it to her while you eat yours."

Kazuto divided the food into the bowls and decorated them with a berry topping like his mother taught him. He was proud of every meal he made which looked as good as it smelt in the end. He only really finished what his mother had made this time, but it only cut a little time out of the process. It was the same as cooking it from scratch.

"It looks so good..."

"Hands off. Thanks for grabbing the dishes, but go wash your hands before you eat."

Kazuto set Shiro's food in his space at the table, making the setting properly and arranging Shino's food and spoon on the tray before he headed carefully up the stairs to her room. Shiro could be much more easily handled when it came to food cooked by Kazuto. Any other situation it was at least a little more difficult.

When he arrived at the door for Shino's room, he shifted the tray to one hand and knocked lightly at the door.

"Good morning Shino. You'd better be in bed. I'm bringing you breakfast."

He was responded with a cough. He waited for a few more seconds. When words didn't reply to his statement of bringing her breakfast, he opened the door to find that she was still asleep and covered by her sheets. Her face was barely out of the sheets. When she was asleep, he couldn't help but see her feminine side. She still didn't need her glasses, but when he saw them on her night stand, he wanted to see her sleeping with them on. That wasn't a good idea though especially if she shifted in her sleep and crushed them.

"Wake up sleepy head."

He poked her up facing cheek and she scrunched her face in response for a second before waking up.

"Definitely too nice to be Mom waking me up... Good morning Kazuto..."

Her face was flush and her voice sounded stuffy from congestion. Kazuto had her shift over so that he could place the tray on her lap and grabbed a tissue for her to blow her nose with.

"Blow your nose. Don't touch breakfast for a minute, I'll bring a cloth for you to wash your hands."

She smiled after blowing her nose and he tossed the tissue in the trash bin beside her bed.

"Kazuto will make a good Mom someday."

"I'll be the Dad thank you very much. I'll be right back."

He left her for no less than a minute. He went across the hall to the upstairs washroom and grabbed a clean cloth from the drawer and wet it under the sink with warm water for washing her hands. When he returned to the room, she had the spoon filled with a scoop of porridge ready to fill her mouth.

"Clean your hands first...or you'll be staying sick!"

He walked quickly over to her, grabbed the spoon with his free hand and put the spoon back into the bowl before grabbing her hands one at a time with the cloth and wiping them clean. He felt awkward cleaning her hands for her in the end and let go when he was done.

"Now you can eat."

She gave him a coy look, which didn't last long before she started coughing.

"It might be better that I feed you..."

"Don't do that! You'll get sick!"

"That doesn't matter. If you get better, you can look after me. I have a good immune system anyway. How many times have I been sick?"

She tried thinking of an answer, but she couldn't think of a single time Kazuto had been sick.

"Darn it..."

Admitting defeat, she opened her mouth and looked at him expectantly. She waited a few seconds before getting embarrassed.

"What, you want me to say _ahh_ too?"

He blushed harder and retorted with _no_.

When he finally found himself in the mood, he started feeding her the porridge. Of course the calm and slightly embarrassing situation wouldn't last long. Kazuto should have closed the door at least, because Shiro was watching around the corner and Shino caught sight of him peeking. As soon as he knew he was caught, he just had to get some words in.

"You two really are just the perfect couple. You should just start dating already."

Kazuto didn't bother dealing with him, and when he ran off as if he were being chased, they were left alone again. Shino couldn't get in the mood again to let Kazuto feed her. She claimed she was feeling full. It was definitely more from the embarrassment changing her mood.

"I'll be back in a minute with a cold cloth for your forehead. You have a bit of a fever still. You should get back to resting after I give you the cold cloth."

Kazuto grabbed up the tray and smiled at her before leaving the room. He felt all kinds of feelings about the situation. It had been a while since he helped take care of Shino when she was sick, but now he knew his feelings for her. He knew he liked her as more than a friend.

When he returned after putting the dishes in the sink to clean when he would go back to the kitchen and putting the ingredients for lunch away, the cold cloth in hand, Shino was asleep again. She must be exhausted from the sickness. It was nothing more than a bad head cold, but that alone could render some people with weaker immune systems sick for days without proper care.

He felt a different kind of care for her fill him when he saw her helplessly fighting the sickness that would prevent her from doing the things she normally did. He lightly shifted her so not to wake her and cradled her head between the pillows and sheets on her bed so that the cloth wouldn't fall off in her sleep. He smiled when he saw what almost seemed like a fortress surrounding her face in the making of sheets and pillows. She had a bit of a sour expression on her face, but she still wasn't awake.

"K...Kazu...like you..."

His face instantly felt like it had been thrust into a fire with the prickling feeling of his skin and the rising temperature that meant his face was growing full flush red in embarrassment. He wanted to go over and kiss her, but his urge was halted by the feeling of eyes on his back.

"How will he act? Will Kazu-nii steal a kiss while Onee-chan sleeps? The drama of children in love!"

He whispered it in a dramatic tone. Kazuto didn't give chase. He didn't want to disturb Shino's sleep. He closed the door when he left the room and went back to the kitchen to clean up from the breakfast. Shiro finally stopped being so annoying, mostly keeping to his room.

For the rest of the day, Shiro stayed out of the way except for when Kazuto went to change Shino's forehead cloth and check her temperature. When he would bring her lunch. Between taking care of her, he cleaned the kitchen and living space, and even cleaned up Shino's room a bit. She ended up sleeping most of the day. At some point, Shiro became bored of saying how much they should be a couple with lack of reaction and just stayed in his room.

When Shino and Shiro's mother returned after work, not only was she thrilled at how clean the house was, she mentioned she wanted help with dinner which felt relieving to Kazuto for Shino's sake. Kazuto ended up making the supper after finding out the ingredient situation. Asada-san was frustrated, but happy that Kazuto was so diligent and impeccable at the work. Especially when there wasn't a single dish left besides those the food was on after he finished cooking.

Dinner of a light sushi with slightly-off porridge rice for Shino's sake, a light noodle soup similar to ramen with spice just enough to help with burning the congestion out of the sinuses. The spiciness wasn't too strong for everyone else...although he did add some more spice to his own bowl of soup. Before dinner was finished being made, their father showed up.

"Oh my...Kazuto-chan ended up cooking again. We might as well hire him to be a live-in maid."

Kazuto protested immediately and said he should dump out the father's serving. To which everyone laughed. While everyone else sat down and waited, Kazuto went back upstairs to wake Shino and bring her down to eat with the family. At that point, she had rested enough and cooled down from her fever enough that she should be able to handle eating with everyone.

When she was able to talk normally after waking that time without the groggy feeling in her sinuses, she stared at Kazuto, the light of her bedside lamp the only light in the room.

"I'm worried...will Kazuto be the wife, or will it be me? Kazuto is so good at all the housework, and I'm...like Mom."

"Uh, Shino, you are awake."

Kazuto interrupted her pseudo sleep-talk with informing her she was in fact awake.

"D-did I just say something embarrassing?"

He shook his head to stop from the embarrassment continuing. Plus, she needed to eat.

"Let's get downstairs so you can eat with everyone. You should be better enough now."

She couldn't but help smile at Kazuto. Neither could he help but smile at her.

"You did well today, Shino."

"Thank you so much, Kazu."

They finally went down to have dinner with the rest of her family. Nobody started waiting until Kazuto picked up his chopsticks and said the traditional line.

"Thank you for the food."


	4. Chapter 4

"Onee-chan! Kazu-nii is here early for our archery lesson."

Shiro and Kazuto were earlier than usual with getting ready for the archery lesson of the evening. Shino seemed to be in a strange mood ever since Kazuto nursed her back to health a few weeks before. She would be the cause for being late instead of him.

When she finished quickly making her way down the stairs, slipping a little on the floor in her socks, Kazuto caught her before she fell to the floor. His hand under her back, he nearly fell over as well. He managed to catch himself and pull her up with himself.

"No need to hurry. We're usually late anyway."

"If we can come home early then it's good to be early. Sorry Kazuto..."

She looked away as soon as she found herself staring. Shino had become very aware of her feelings. Her and Kazuto were trying their very best not to admit their feelings. Shiro had a very different idea for the times they were trying not to admit their feelings when they were strongest.

"Oh, just a little longer and you might have kissed. Darn~"

They both shot him a glare which might have been enough to cut through something. When they gained their composure, they left him behind in the house.

"If we hurry and leave him behind, he can get stuck with the cleaning alone."

Kazuto and Shino laughed and ran to leave Shiro behind. They made it all the way to the archery hall, while Shiro still wasn't used to the weight of the uniform when running. He didn't have their stamina. Kazuto and Shino made it to the archery hall a little early while some others were still arriving. Shiro arrived later, after everyone else when the lesson had already started instead of barely late like they usually were together.

Everyone laughed at him when he did arrive, covered in sweat from trying to run without the stamina to wear the heavy clothes. Not very many students did have the stamina to run in the outfit. Especially carrying the equipment bag.

"Let's have Kazuto and Shino help you clean up after today's lesson for being late Shiro. Better to not fall from tradition at this point..."

The teacher ended up putting them together anyway. It was probably more in concern to keep everyone together. After all, for the last week, there was rumour of a frightening middle aged man going around to small stores in the area and robbing them at gun point. It was best to go from place to place with an adult or by vehicle, but otherwise, it was better to at least be in as big a group as possible.

The lesson and night went by like normal. Kazuto was one of the better students, finally scoring a dead centre shot, and Shino managed to as well. She also finally gained the strength to steady her hold of the bow when she drew an arrow. Only those shots were impressive, as everything else was only close to the centre from them. Shiro was sloppy and only barely managed to stick a single arrow to a target the whole night. Probably from being exhausted. He was normally at least decent enough to hit the target most of his shots.

After the lesson, Shino and Kazuto cleaned up for a little, focusing just on restringing bows with new string for the next lesson while having Shiro wipe the floors by himself. When they were finally told to go home, Shiro was ready to drop with how tired he was.

Shino took Shiro's equipment bag, and Kazuto carried Shiro on his back while holding his own bag. Kazuto seemed much more masculine when he showed how strong he had become. He could carry the heavy equipment bag and another person and still walk fine without issue. Such strength made Shino more nervous to talk and look at him. When Shiro woke up close to home, he noticed the tension right away.

"You'd much rather be carrying Onee-chan home, wouldn't you. She's grown y'know."

That made both Kazuto and Shino angry. Kazuto dropped him on the grass of the yard, and Shino threw the bag on his stomach. They were getting fed up with him pestering them about getting into a relationship.

Shiro felt bad about it, not just because of how much it hurt when his head hit the ground and the bag felt crushing his stomach. He felt pushing them so far they would hurt him. They never hurt him before, even during kendo lessons. That night, he began reflecting. Was it really worth it to push them so far?

The next morning, a day off from school and lessons, Shino ignored him completely and left him at home alone to go with their mother for some shopping. Even Kazuto ignored him, practising most of the morning at his balance and consistency for kendo strikes. The yard was too small for Shiro to join in and Kazuto only ignored him either way.

Shiro ended up feeling depressed that he was left alone on a day off. He wasn't interested in doing training on a day off, video games felt boring without Kazuto or Shino to play with...he decided he might as well wait at a nearby park for some other kids his age to show up that he could play with. He knew a place he never went to, but some kids from his class sometimes went there on a day off from school.

He looked up at the sky on his way walking over there, noticing that it looked like rain would start coming down. Since he had already walked most of the way there, he didn't bother walking back home to grab an umbrella. There wasn't a single person at the park, either because it wasn't a usual day from school, and because rain was in the forecast.

He sat down on the middle of the swing set and started pushing himself back and forth a little, trying to get over his boredom. When he thought about what put Kazuto and Shino in the mood to ignore him he returned to reflecting on what he was doing. Of course...it was fun for a long time for him to bug them about how nice it would be for them to be in a relationship, but maybe he really did take it too far.

He knew it was still early for a relationship to form, but it was so obvious to him they were in love with each other. They were eleven and he was only eight. To him, they **were** in love with each other and ready to start a relationship. Heck, some of his classmates were already getting into relationships. It was strange for someone his own age, but when it was them, it felt right.

The rain seemed to almost feel it was going to pass by without falling when the sun pierced through the sky and he stood from the swing set. He decided to go home and read manga or something else until Shino and their mother would return home. When he reached the crosswalk, he checked and noticed that a large goods transport truck was coming, and another car, a familiar car with Kazuto's parents having an argument it seemed was coming from the other direction. At exactly the worst time, some classmates walked out onto the crosswalk in the path of the Kirigaya car.

"Back off! Get off the cross walk!"

The classmates stopped where they were and waved with a bit of anger at the way he talked to them, but then the scene suddenly became a disaster. The car Kazuto's parents were in swerved to miss them and flipped right up against the front of the transport truck. The cab of the car was destroyed on impact, and Shiro's vision was filled with red. Anger at what his classmates caused, and the sickening red fluid that spread to the ground around the impact zone. He fell to the sidewalk and screamed and cried at the horrific scene in front of him. Kazuto's parents were like another family to him, and he just saw them die.

The other kids ran away to not get caught up in it, screaming which contradicted their retreat. Shiro curled up and shook in terror as his mind was filled again and again with the seconds which were the last of Kazuto's parents. He cried and sobbed, and not only the rain fell that afternoon.


	5. Chapter 5

"Mom, can we go get something sweet after this? I want to say sorry to Shiro about something..."

They had just pulled up to the bank, the clouds seeming ready to start opening up and drop torrents of rain on them.

"Well, ice cream would be a bad idea. How about something packaged from the convenience store nearby home? This will be the last stop I need to make before we can head back home."

Shino and Shiro's Mom was used to having a strange schedule. She rarely had the same weekend twice in a row, and this time she had only one day off at a time. Since there were plenty of things to do, she asked Shino to come along for some of the shopping to lessen the amount of trips for carrying groceries and other things they would end up grabbing. Apparently new pillows were needed. The current stop was at the bank.

As they walked in, one other person was just finishing with their business, smiling at Shino on her way out. Shino had started wearing hair clips to pull the longer side sections of her bangs out of her face, something given to her by Kazuto as a gift. She played with them whenever her mind became distracted. It was one of the few gifts from him that could be worn on any occasion.

She was in a good mood, and wanted to make it better instead of continue to feel depressed over ignoring Shiro and hurting him the night before. She didn't regret it, but it was depressing that she felt pushed that far.

Shino's mind was filled with the event of the night before, whether Kazuto might already be making it up to Shiro for dropping him on the lawn in front of the house. While Kazuto was kind of like that, she had the feeling that he was still being stubborn over it and Shiro might be bored, looking for something to do. To have something sweet when Shino would come home to see him just seemed like something that might cheer him up.

Shouting could be heard from outside the building, and drew Shino out of her thoughts of fixing the mood with Shiro. She shrank up against her mother when the anrgy shouts grew closer.

When a middle aged looking man with a crazed expression on his face burst in through the door, drenched in water, Shino was terrified of him. He stomped over to the counter, pushing Shino's Mom and her out of the way before pointing a gun at the first receptionist before starting his demands. He was the one who the warnings were about. Guns were illegal to own in Japan except for law enforcement, so when she saw the handle of the gun, she unfortunately recognized that it wasn't the type of gun the police wore. It had a star shape near the butt of the handle. He had an illegal gun on top of being a terrifying robber.

She froze in her terror, gripping hard to her mother, hoping her mother could protect her. Shino might be able to fight if she had her kendo bamboo sword or her bow and arrows, but even then a gun was too dangerous to fight against.

"Start filling the bag. Now!"

He shouted at the receptionists to start filling the bag with money, but when they told him they couldn't, one of the people on the other side of the counter apparently started reaching for the alarm.

"Don't you-"

His finger was faster than his words. The deafening crack of the bullet exploding from the chamber and then piercing through a person sent terrible chills through Shino.

One of the receptionists was told to use the key in their hand, and with the distraction, Shino's mother started trying to use it to get them to escape. He wasn't having it. As soon as he heard someone moving closer, he turned his gun on Shino's mother.

"Don't you dare move, bitch!"

She stared at showed her hands in fear of his gun. Shino saw how bad the expression was in his eyes in that moment and knew that it was too dangerous to let him hold onto the gun for even a second longer. She gathered up her courage to protect her mother and leaped at him, using the only weapon she could think of using at the moment, her teeth to chomp into his hand, hard enough she felt blood run into her mouth. He dropped the gun and shouted in pain, grabbing Shino with his other hand and ripping her from his hand before throwing her at the floor. She grabbed the gun as soon she reach stopped staggering from the pain of the impact and scurried to the wall as far away from him as possible.

He stared at her with a furious expression on his face. Shino's attention was shifting from focusing on the gun she picked up and held in her hand, heavy, almost completely black with a carved star near the butt of the handle, to the crazed mad expression of the robber, to her mother who was in a confused crazed state that she didn't know what to do. When he started stomping over to Shino to reclaim his gun, she shakingly pointed the gun at him to warn him off. He paused for part of a second, but he smiled as if thinking she were unable to pull the trigger as an innocent child. When he continued to approach her, she imagined the feeling of a bow, and instead of pulling the trigger, she closed her eyes and imagined she was letting loose an arrow at a target. When she opened her eyes, he had staggered and had a wound mark in his shoulder. He was even more angry and stomped even closer to her. This time she didn't have the chance to close her eyes of what she was doing. She didn't have the steadiness she had while holding the bow. The aim of the barrel and the shaking of her hands pulled the trigger at a time the bullet seemed to slow down before passing through the space between his eyes.

It was her second dead centre shot of her life, but the sight of that crazed expression going blank, the dripping blood from the wounds, and then the gun on her lap and the blood flowing under her legs only made her shiver and tremble in the fear of what she did. She...killed a person. Even if she was still only a child, she had already taken a life. Something no child should have to experience.

Tears welled up and fell from her eyes from the fear which finally overflowed. Shino wasn't terrified of the man anymore. Not the gun either. She was afraid of herself. That she could pull the trigger and end a man's life.

Her mother stared on in horror at what just happened.

For a moment, Shino remembered the idea of bringing something sweet to Shiro, that she could really go for something sweet too, to get the taste of blood from her mouth.


	6. Chapter 6

Shino sat in the taxi which waited for Kazuto. She had packed all of her clothes and other things she considered important, leaving her kendo equipment and archery equipment behind. Kazuto brought everything, including his equipment, but only because he wasn't allowed to leave anything behind.

Shino's eyes were filled with an empty expression, like she was sitting somewhere far behind where her eyes were seeing, trying to forget the memory at the bank. Kazuto seemed to be in pain enough that he might have been in the car when his parents died. Shiro was still crying like mad, trying to stop them from leaving, but not even Shino's parents would stop her from going with Kazuto. He was offered a place to live with his cousin Suguha's family. They would also allow Shino after they heard her reasoning.

"Onee-chan! Please don't go! Not right now! I can't get through this without either of you. Kazu-nii, please convince her to stay! Please...!"

He flailed against his parents holding him back from joining them leaving. He didn't want them to go. He felt a desperate need to be with them after witnessing what he did. He was more than willing to give up on pushing for their relationship if he could keep them home.

When Kazuto waved a farewell to the Asada parents, Shiro started screaming in protest. Kazuto finally started crying, the tears streaming down his face as he heard and watched Shiro flail against the hold of his parents.

Kazuto sat in the back seat of the taxi with Shino on the other end, and the taxi left. Shiro fell to the ground when his parents finally let go of him.

The sky was dark as if it were nearly night, but it was really just a miserable day which was raining off and on. The ground was wet, and Shiro didn't even bother noticing as his pants were getting soaked from the moisture soaking through to his legs, making his pants stick to him.

"Mom, Dad, why didn't you stop her?! Onee-chan needs us more than anything right now! Kazu-nii needs us now too! Why won't you say anything?!"

"They need each other right now. We would only get in the way of them growing from this. Kazuto-chan needs his own family. Shino needs some time away from us. She might come back home in a few years. Kazuto-chan...he has to stay with family until he's ready to live alone."

Shino and Shiro's mother couldn't bring herself to say anything. It was their father who explained what kind of situation it was. Shiro still couldn't understand. The two people he cared about most were going and leaving him behind. After seeing Kazuto's parents die right in front of him, it was absolutely devastating. It were as if he lost all four of them in the accident.

He continued to stare in the direction the taxi drove off even long after it was out of sight. His parents went back into the house, letting him return inside when he had enough of being soaked by the rain that began pouring down again.

Shino was like a shell as she sat and swayed in the seat of the taxi on the trip to their new home. Kazuto stared at her as if she was medicine. He didn't even see it, but his parents were gone and weren't coming back. When he heard it from the police, he denied it completely until someone else from the government showed up and told him he had to move in with other family, and that Suguha's parents were offering that he could move in with them. Otherwise, he would have to go in with child protective services. Be housed by foster parents.

He never answered, but it ended up being a confirmation he would move in with Suguha's family. He barely said anything in the two weeks since it happened. He lived in the house alone, walked with Shino holding her hand to school when he could find the strength to go, and even while they were in class. They didn't separate except for when they would go to their own houses. They needed each other. He stared at his medicine, and her mind was trying to delete the memory of what happened.

To Kazuto, Shino was the person he loved as much as his parents. It made him glad that she decided to leave with him when she heard about him leaving to move in with Suguha's family. Because neither would talk outside of that after everything that happened, it ended up that Suguha's parents gave permission for her to move in as well, and her parents also accepted that. The two finally were ready and moving in exactly twenty days after the day their lives changed.

Both were completely quiet, and the taxi driver picked up on the mood. The whole way through the pounding rain, it was the only sound that could be heard. Even their breathing was drowned out from the sound of the rain. Between Kazuto and Shino on the seat was bags of their clothes. Many were clothes that both of them had worn when they were younger. Plenty were outgrown. Some were more recent clothes. The trunk behind them had Kazuto's equipment bags, video game equipment, boxes of manga and other literature they liked, and their bedding. The front passenger seat had Shino's equipment which Kazuto convinced to bring along while she wasn't paying attention.

They had everything they needed when they could finally pick themselves and each other back up that they could get back into the habits of their lives, however, the attraction of the false worlds in video games were beginning to seem extraordinarily attractive.

When the taxi stopped and the driver turned and nodded his head to Kazuto, it was time to get out. The rain had let up for the moment, but he put his hood up to protect him from the rain regardless and grabbed as many bags of clothes as possible. Shino followed his lead and grabbed the rest of the bags of clothes from the back seat between where they sat. Suguha and her parents helped as soon as they noticed the vehicle was carrying Kazuto Shino and their belongings. Suguha's parents paid the taxi driver for the service and grabbed the heavier equipment from the trunk. In minutes, everything was placed down in the entrance hall.

Suguha tried getting Kazuto's attention, but as soon as her parents showed him where his room would be, he was occupied. Shino was another case. She would be moving in beside Suguha, so she helped carry Shino's belongings to the room. Kazuto finished moving his belongings to his room before them, so Suguha decided it would be better to try and be better friends with Shino while they would be living together.

"Shino...so, how would you like to arrange the stuff in your room? Do you have a lot of plushies too?"

No response. Shino just moved and started unpacking her belongings as soon as everything was finished being delivered to the new room.

"You have a big home...thank you for letting me stay too..."

Those were the only words she offered, eventually accepting the help of passing something from the current open box. It seemed they were done after a short time. Suguha was disappointed with two things when Shino sat on the bed and stopped doing anything else. She was disappointed that Shino wouldn't do anything else, and that so little was brought. Only one plushy of what she imagined to be many back in her original room decorated her bed. The rest of her belongings were boring. Her equipment Kazuto insisted on bringing, manga and other books as well as any portable gaming stuff she had. There was hardly any feminine belongings among what she brought with her.

When Suguha became tired of waiting for Shino to stop sitting on the bed doing nothing, she walked out of the room to check on Kazuto. His room was filled. He had to bring everything from his own room so of course it would be filled more. Her surprise though...he was already finished unpacking, his bed sorted and sheets and blankets in place, everything that made him him.

Kazuto had a laptop and many manga and other books on the desk, a collapsible platform for his console gaming equipment and a small television on the corner of the desk for the consoles. There was a large pink bean chair with a design of a cute monster character from an anime she thought she could recognize. He was holding onto something, crying and leaning against the large window frame where his bed was placed. The small space where there was window frame and the bed wasn't occupying the space of the wall, he was standing there and tears flowed down his face.

"Onii-chan..."

Suguha walked into the room and closed the distance to him. When he turned and looked at her, his eyes were puffy from crying, as if he hadn't stopped crying for hours. He mouthed _Sugu_ , but the sound wouldn't come for his mouth. She grabbed hold of him as he dragged her to their knees and cried on her shoulder. He sobbed hard and without sound against her. It hurt her heart to see him like that. To feel how hard he was hurt by what happened. He was with family again, but all he could be reminded was that his own parents were gone. No matter how much Suguha could treat him like an older brother, he was a cousin. Her parents were just an aunt and uncle. They were only a small part of his life, and most of all, his mother who had been the person who gave him the most strength was gone. He didn't even get the chance to see them after that morning. Hearing that they were having an argument just before the crash from Shiro must have been all the more devastating.

Suguha joined him in crying, holding back from making a sound as much as possible.

"Onii-chan..."

Whenever she had a chance to do a little more than breathe, she would call him the same way she always had. Maybe it would help him, but being able to hold him in her arms felt selfish. She had what she always wanted, but at the cost of his parents. She didn't enjoy it at all.

She was reminded that Shino was in the other room, and she knew that they cared about each other deeply. She was jealous, but this wasn't the time for those kind of feelings. She needed to be supportive, and not selfish. Not jealous. She reminded herself of what her role should be in the situation, and squeezed Kazuto tight in a hug. He eventually stopped crying, but it was because he fell asleep.

Suguha moved him to his bed and almost shook her head at how many cute plushies he had. After tucking him in, she turned off the light and put her opposite hand on the shoulder he cried on. Those were a sign he wasn't the person she barely stood next to in kendo. He was another person who could hurt and feel sad. He wasn't a perfect master of his emotions. He was just a child like her, and he was only in her life more because of the biggest tragedy of his life. There was nothing to gain from the situation. It was a weight on her shoulder, not just tears.


	7. Chapter 7

"Onii-chan, it's time to head out for school."

Suguha was still bothered by it. Shino stood by her waiting for Kazuto to finish drying his hair before they would leave for school in the morning. She really wanted him to cut his hair, but ever since the accident, he wouldn't even get his hair trimmed. After two years, his hair now reached his knees. He still had a rather feminine frame, but still no progress in the chest because he was obviously a boy. Shino and Suguha had grown a little, Suguha a little more than a little admittedly.

They had all grown. Suguha was a year younger than Shino and Kazuto, so she didn't share any classes with them, but she was getting depressed that teachers would talk to her about how Kazuto and Shino wouldn't participate in group activities and wouldn't talk at all in class. Maybe they forgot to talk would have been an option if they didn't talk at home or when the two of them were alone. Even then they barely talked. Two years, and it felt like there was no progress.

Suguha felt more depressed than ever.

The sound of a package dropping through the mail slot in the door caught Suguha and Shino's attention. When Suguha picked it up, noting that it was a code for a system Kazuto and Shino recently got for gaming, she barely knew it was for a beta test for a game she didn't recognize. There were only words on it, so it was boring. The name for the delivery was Kazuto, so she put it on the entrance table for him to pick up later when they would return home.

She was frustrated by a lot of things. Kazuto cooked all the time, not giving her a chance to learn how to cook and lessen the burden on him, although it seemed he was in a better mood when he cooked. She was also frustrated that when he and Shino did attend kendo lessons with her, neither of them could be read at all, and therefore they both became somehow untouchable. They kept on beating her at the things she wanted to be good at. They didn't give her a chance to be better at the things that might make her more supportive to at least Kazuto. After two years, she really didn't care about Shino, and honestly wanted her to go back home if progress wasn't being made.

Shino wasn't making her position in Kazuto's life clear, and Suguha had her own feelings to deal with. Kazuto finally made his way down the stairs. It still bothered her more than anything else. Because he had such a naturally feminine demeanor and such a feminine appearance, he was accepted into her middle school along with Shino. A girls only school. He fit the uniform in a way she was jealous of, and he gathered even more attention with his long hair which even she admired. His mind was gone enough that after the first time wearing it, he had no trouble putting on the skirt and the rest of the uniform.

It honestly made Suguha angry to the point she would feel a fever coming on sometimes. The Kazuto that she loved and admired was acting like a girl willingly and going to a girls only school with her.

He walked past the girls to the door and held it open for them. The lifeless expression in his eyes reminded her that he was still broken after the accident. Shino was still recovering as well. It were as if their bodies were on autopilot ever since they woke up after they arrived.

The plus side to Kazuto's popularity at the school was that he was deemed too popular, and only Suguha and Shino were expected to ever be close to him at any time. He had been called out by another classmate for a confession, but he turned her down without saying a word. He just turned around and walked away after she poured out her feelings. Suguha didn't know whether to be depressed or happy of that shut down.

The walk to school wasn't long, thankfully. The worst part of that was that boys from other schools would stare at him. The one point that made attention draw to him most was the beautiful long hair. Some guys even knew and kept mentioning how they wouldn't mind if he was so cute.

It was well known at the school that Kazuto was in fact a boy, and it was fine, because relationships wouldn't happen. He wouldn't approach a girl for a relationship, and he would shut down girls who approached him. He wasn't a pervert. He changed for physical education classes in a washroom instead of a change room, and his mannerisms suited to be feminine enough it were as if he were aiming to become a girl through surgery in the future.

When they arrived at the school that morning, Suguha finally filled her mind with something more positive. The delivery that morning was for a video game code, at least it should be. A tester code for a game that might release soon. That was her understanding, and if it was a video game, it might be something made more for a boyish audience. Maybe she could also pick that up with him and Shino and help them recover through it. If they were enjoying something, she wanted to be part of it.

Her mind was filled with that determination, and she asked some of her classmates if they had heard of the game system when she finally recalled it, and they said only a thousand people had their hands on test copies and the head mounted gaming device. Apparently one of her classmates was one such person, and she went ahead and already tested it that morning. It made her feel sick and immediately eject from the test, so she said she would pass it on to Suguha if she was so interested.

With her hands on it, she logged into the test that night. The beta test for Sword Art Online.


	8. Chapter 8

It was finally the morning for the day of the official release. Kazuto was finally excited from something enough he woke up early. Him and Shino were up for a lot of the night before talking about it and how excited they were to try and compete with other players than those they saw during the beta test.

Suguha had kept it to herself that she was also excited and that she had been part of the tester community. When the news went live online, the three started up their NervGear in their respective bedrooms, logging into Sword Art Online as some of the first few hundred into the game. People were extremely excited for the first Virtual Reality game, and to boot, it was a massively multi-player type of game. There would be ten thousand people logging in the very first day. Beta testers automatically received a code for the official release, so they could log in as soon as they were ready on the day of release. After Kazuto finished making breakfast for the three of them and they finished eating, it seemed they were right to their bedrooms. As if no obstacles would stop them from logging in.

Suguha had even forgotten the reason she was starting into the game in the first place. She loved every second of playing the beta test, even the part of reporting any bugs and errors he met while playing. She even made it a challenge to not let her hit points reach zero.

She never even had the idea that she might have met Kazuto and Shino during the test.

Shino and Kazuto were different. They were competing with everyone else. In fact, they challenged the floor bosses during the beta test, and nobody else had the nerve after finding out how difficult it was for them. They climbed though. To ten floors, the two best players of the beta test climbed and won. Floor ten was the limit though. Only because of time constraint though. It took a long time for them to walk and explore the floors and dungeons. To level up enough that they stood a chance against the floor bosses which were multiples of times more difficult than the regular monsters on the floors before them. According to them, it would be something regularly challenged by a large raid party in other MMO settings.

Suguha thought those well known players must be someone else. They were both male avatars after all, and were so outgoing compared to how withdrawn Kazuto and Shino were in day-to-day. Suguha logged into the game, and she finally wondered if she would be able to find Kazuto and Shino in the game. She didn't even care about the crush she had on Kazuto any more. She was having fun playing the game.

When they logged into the game, Kazuto and Shino were the ones with a clear first objective. Meet at the base of the clock tower in the town of beginnings before going to the field and fighting low level enemies until comfortable enough to progress further. Suguha immediately went to the market and blew the starting money on gear to make sure she could handle the monsters of the first area.

Suguha ploughed onto the field, and people who were brand new to the game were stunned by the swift and deadly strokes of someone who was obviously a beta tester, demolishing every monster around the town walls in a single stroke.

Word was spreading fast that beta testers were unfair. Especially since so few worked with brand new players. Suguha was one of the few who didn't play with others. Neither did Kazuto and Shino - until a scruffy looking beansprout of a guy with red colour scheme hair and a very interesting personality noticed them running around knowing where they were going called them out.

The boy called himself out as Klein, and while he wielded for his starting weapon a scimitar class sword, he immediately claimed he would rise up in the ranks and unlock the katana sword class. He would be one of the first Samurai of the game. Kazuto and Shino thought he was a little funny, but he had a goal, and it would be worth it to at least add one other person to their friends list who was aiming to be better in the game. They weren't just in the game to play and enjoy it, though that was the biggest point. They wanted to play to win and feel the rush they felt when they were the best of the beta testers.

"You're doing it all wrong."

Klein was a mess swinging his scimitar at the gentle boars of the hills nearby the town. They found a nice spot to relax for the time being and teach him step by step how to fight using the guidance system in the game.

"I already showed you the positioning... Just watch..."

Kazuto picked up a pebble from the ground nearby the boulder him and Shino were sitting on while watching Klein miss every swipe with his blade. After steadying the pebble in his grip, Kazuto aimed and readied at a certain angle until he felt the click when a skill was about to be used. Unlike the basic actions any person could use in a fight, skills had a set percentage of hitting the enemy, so long as you consider them your target.

He tossed the pebble like a bullet at the backside of the boar. That didn't do much more than a scratch for damage to the health bar over its head, but it did draw aggro to him. Klein seemed even more puzzled.

"But doesn't it take a fundamental understanding of movement in a fight to be able to figure out stuff like that?"

Kazuto and Shino giggled softly at that question. Of course they had plenty of experience in combat with their kendo and archery training.

"Oh right, we haven't partied up yet, so I don't even know your names. I'm Klein, as I've already introduced myself."

Kazuto introduced himself with the name he gave his avatar, Kirito, mixing his first and last name to make it easy to remember when he would be called by it in game.

"My name is Kirito."

"Mine is Sinon, like the sniper archer of legend."

Shino was proud of the name they came up with for official launch together. Klein seemed impressed, more by the name Sinon than the fact Kirito hacked down the boar in a single slash when it finally closed the distance.

"That's so cool! It's too bad they didn't program an archery base class in this game, but then, it is called _Sword_ Art Online. There's only throwing objects for range right? It feels strange having a fantasy setting and no magic, but that's kind of understandable for the very first VRMMO..."

He was very interested and easily distracted. Finally he managed to get the first skill to activate and kill a boar. Scimitar were considered one of the stronger starter weapons, so it was easy to cut down small fry with a skill. One hand swords like Kirito used, and daggers like Sinon were considered weaker. Unfortunately something like dual wielding wasn't allowed. It was possible to equip one to each hand, but wielding them properly was impossible unless you had real life experience wielding like that. There were no skills attached to it.

They gave Klein the lecture on what kind of layout there was for equipment types and things that were known to be able to be unlocked. Klein already knew of katana being unlocked after mastering scimitar skills, so that was his aim. He did admit to being a little interested in the heaviest weapon type, two handed swords. He only had his mind on something that would intimidate other people.

"Oh right, I have a few friends who are logging on later, and we're going to form a guild together. Do you two feel like joining us? It would be great to have a pair of beta testers helping us out."

Kirito and Sinon looked at each other and shook their heads after a moment of consideration.

"Sorry Klein. We wouldn't mind if it were just you, but helping a group of people would be a lot of work and drain the fun from the game. It would be fun to take on bosses together in a group, but the guild stuff is just...sorry."

Kirito broke the news to him. Klein seemed a little hurt at first, but he became fine with it.

Kirito looked very different with his avatar compared to the appearance outside of the game. He had short spiky hair like an anime protagonist, still black like usual, had a more masculine frame and was a little taller. Sinon's changed appearance was much different as well. Of course the biggest difference was that she was playing a male avatar. She made his hair colour a very light blue coloured, short, even taller than Kirito, and muscular. It was funny to her, and one of her first jokes she made about the difference was that Kirito really was the princess in comparison this time around.

While they were mentally comparing their changed appearances to real life and getting ready for logging out temporarily for dinner, Suguha was finally taking a break from fighting the small fry in the area around the town. They weren't really offering experience any more. It would take another eighty to move to the next level.

After she sat down on a boulder near a group of passive monsters and watched as some new players who just logged on started fighting their first monsters, she was tempted to join in, but it was too late before they experienced their first death. It would be an experience to learn from at least.

She sighed in wonder at how different it was compared to real life, comparing her change in appearance as well. She still stuck with being female, but she made herself like an amazon, tall, powerful and frightening with long blond hair. She had to laugh at how silly it was. She really wanted to be a much cuter appearance that would get Kazuto's attention, but that wasn't the goal when she was having fun with the character creation. She named her avatar Leafa, like a fairy who guided an amazon through trouble in a legend. She didn't think it very fitting, but shrugged her shoulders in acceptance of the decision. It was only an avatar and she could change it later. Maybe she would play as a fairy later.

Then the sound of the bell started chiming for six in the evening, and everyone was shocked by what happened to them. A forced teleport to the spawn in point in the Town of Beginnings. Everyone looked around, surprised, but those from the beta test seemed ready for the announcement of a big timed event of some sort. After a minute of waiting, what everyone's concern and lack of ability to even leave the central fountain area where they waited spawned something out of horror. The colourful sky overhead of greys of the bottom of the next floor to yellow orange and red were covered over in a gridlock of notices for a system announcement. From the cracks in between, thick red fluid dripped down into a massive globe of what reminded traumatized people such as Kazuto and Shino of blood. So much it nearly made Shino faint. When Kazuto held her up, he could feel it also making him feel sick.

Finally, the globe of blood morphed into something else. A massive floating hooded figure which seemed hollow on the inside aside from eyes which looked down on them from above. From that figure, words were spoken, to tell everyone why they were gathered. Some already knew one part of the reason. Kirito Klein and Sinon weren't able to log out. Kirito wanted to log off a little early to make dinner, and Klein had pizza on order.

Something was really bothering Kirito though. Although the game was working fine according to how the beta test experience went, it seemed GMs wouldn't answer, and they always would for emergency situations. If there was something else someone had to do, the only way to get out of the game was for someone else to pull the NerveGear off the player's head. There were no commands to log out other than the missing button on the main menu. He had the feeling the situation was much more dire than a timed event.

Kirito thought about things like starving and getting sick in the game possibly forcing a person to log out, but not a single thing in the manual and other information regarding either the device or the game. They were stuck. He was concerned for other people who had this for the first experiencing of full dive into the game. Into a VR game.

Finally, the speech began.

"Attention players. Welcome to _my_ world."

After those words alone, Kirito could only think of the person who was the lead developer for the game. As if answering that thought, the next words introduced the person controlling the giant avatar.

"My name is Kayaba Akihiko. I am currently the one and only person who can control this world."

The crowd of thousands of people buzzed at the words of the announcement. They were all confused and applauding the amount of time must have gone into planning such an event. Kirito wasn't so thrilled after hearing it was Kayaba Akihiko who was at the helm.

"I am sure many of you have already noticed that the log out button of the main menu has been removed."

That solidified it in Kirito's mind Kayaba intended for this to happen. He needed to hear the rest out though.

"However, this is by no means a mistake. I repeat. It is not a mistake but a feature of the true Sword Art Online."

Kirito wanted to ask questions, everyone did because the crowd continued to buzz, and Klein was exceptionally voicing his confusion at the matter. Kirito reminded himself that unless something unthinkable was done, getting the penalty of letting the character die would log anyone out. There was a way out...

"You are all unable to log out of Sword Art Online, and nobody in the real world can remove the NerveGear or interrupt its operation. Should it happen, the Nervegear will deliver a powerful burst of microwave radiation emitted from a transmitter in the NerveGear will destroy your brain, thus ending your life."

Many people were exclaiming their disbelief, and some tried getting out of the area because they were finished with listening to the speech. However, Kayaba Akihiko was not finished speaking. Kirito knew the validity of these points, and so did Sinon and she grabbed hold of his hand while they stared up and waited for him to finish explaining why he put everyone in this situation.

As if responding to the current questions being raised by the crowd, he answered.

"Unfortunately it's certainly possible that a player's friends and family would ignore this warning and attempt to forcibly remove the NerveGear. As proof of this, 213 players have already retired from this world and the real one."

This shocked many people, but some were still speculative it was a lie. For Suguha, she was reminded of the one player she was too late to save just a short while before the forced teleport. Did she watch that person's final moment?

As Kayaba continued to explain, he started to show many holographic news articles which were popping up confirming such news and showed them to the crowd questioning whether they can believe his words.

"As you can see, news of my warnings and the numerous victims are being spread world-wide. Thus it should be safe to say that the danger of removal attempts has become minimal. I hope you will all be at ease and focus on completing the game."

Kirito was now angry at the kind of situation laid out in front of them. Even him and Sinon hadn't made it that far out of the hundred floors during the beta test, and the monsters in the field were already sturdier than the beta test. He couldn't imagine even being able to defeat the first floor boss without a full raid party now.

"But I would like you all to keep this in mind. From this point on, all methods of revival in the game will no longer function. If your hit points reach zero, your avatar will perish for eternity and at that moment, the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

Kirito was angry, Sinon was holding him tight, though the sensor for pressure didn't register him feeling any increase in the contact. There was no pain after all. People were panicking, and the reality of the live news feed ensured them the truth was that people were already dead.

"There is only one condition you must meet to be free: the completion of this game. You are all currently on the first floor, the lowest point in Aincrad. If you conquer a floor's dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may continue up to the next one. Assuming you manage to defeat the final boss on the hundredth floor, the game will be considered cleared."

When he finished explaining the goal for everyone to work toward, there was even more uproar and confusion. Klein even mentioned how ridiculous that was when even the beta testers only made it to floor ten in the two months of the test period.

Ignoring the final protests of the ridiculous goal ahead of them, Kayaba begins his final explanation to them for the event.

"And lastly, I have prepared a present to all of you in your item storage. Take a look."

It was a mandatory thing. He wouldn't continue until everyone opened their inventories and found the strange item labelled _Mirror_ , and used it. Kirito, Sinon, Suguha, Klein, everyone who was a little late to using the item were confused as other avatars began glowing. When they finally used their items, they knew exactly what happened. Everyone knew what happened. Kirito was frustrated and infuriated beyond belief. In a moment, everyone there no longer had the appearance of their avatars. They looked exactly as they had outside of the game.

Klein turned around in confusion after the first few seconds, hoping to see that Sinon and Kirito were okay. Suguha panicked after her point of view shrunk down to a familiar height and screamed in protest when someone nearby grabbed her shoulder to see if she was okay.

Klein panicked and started looking around to see if they had been swapped with someone else, but the two feminine people in front of him were no doubt Kirito and Sinon, the way they were still holding onto each other.

"Both...girls?"

His confusion was answered with less confusion, the vision of Klein nearly no different from that of his avatar. Kirito was angry that Klein instantly made the assumption that Kirito was a girl, but he didn't argue it just then. He assumed there was more to listen to. Sinon was reverting back to terror like after the incident. Suguha finally remembered the reason she was trying the game in the first place and started running around to try and find Kazuto and Shino.

Kirito explains to Klein why they looked like themselves. The NerveGear does a scan of the face whenever it loads to find the data of the person using it, and on first use, there is a mandatory pat down of the body to ensure the proportions using a sensor. The device could definitely copy the appearance into the game.

"Right now, you're all probably wondering _Why?_ _Why would I, Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do such a thing?_ I have already achieved my goal. I created the world of Sword Art Online solely for my personal enjoyment. And now the preparations are complete. This concludes the tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

After those final words, the visual effects of the giant avatar being pixellated like when a monster dies or another player lead into the inside of the giant robed figure turning to red gas and flying up into the cracks of the announcement signs above. When all sign of the avatar disappear, the grey and orange sunset returned to normal. The announcement above was no longer there, and the restriction to movement was gone.

Many people like Klein were in shock over characters being different from their gender, and when Kirito pulled Sinon to a nearby alley to get out of the crowd, Suguha noticed Klein following the familiar long black hair and followed. When she saw Kirito and Sinon together, she exclaimed she was happy they were okay, cutting off Klein's continued questioning of why Kirito and Sinon's avatars were so different.

"Onii-chan! Shino-chan! Thank goodness you're alright... I...I already saw someone die earlier just before the announcement... This is terrible. How's Mom's handling this...and Dad..."

" _Onii-chan?_ So one of you really is a boy? Short with super long black hair? No way. You're totally my type. And cute. Why aren't you a girl..."

Klein seemed more in distress that Kirito wasn't a girl now than he was finding out the two beta testers who helped him out were shorter and feminine. Suguha was angry and stomped on his slightly more forward foot.

"Who's this pervert Onii-chan?"

Kirito seemed to be searching for reasons why Suguha would be playing the game at all when for the longest time she expressed a dislike for it. Right before Suguha was about to stomp his foot another time for trying to get close again, he finally spoke up.

"Sugu...first thing is that we shouldn't be referring to real names here, and second, why are you in the game in the first place? I thought that at least you and aunty would be fine, but... Klein, this is my younger cousin. Sugu, this is Klein. Sinon and I were helping him out until just before the forced teleport. He's a bit eccentric, but he's an interesting and kind of fun guy. Give him at least a bit of a chance."

She stared at Kirito in shock. Outside of the game, Kazuto hadn't been that vocal since before his parents passed away. After letting it register he was talking so much, she stood back and glared at Klein, who was currently flirting with Kirito.

"Klein...sorry. For me and Sinon, this was a way to get away from something difficult in our past. It's that way for a lot of people right? Not just something to do for fun. Now that lives are on the line, and we're the only ones with experience clearing floors, we might need to lead the charge in order for as many people still here to get out. I already mentioned the difficulty scaling before, but if you weren't well armoured, you would have died out in the beginner fields. Before the full launch today, you didn't have to worry about being armoured. Sinon and I are the floor clearers from the beta test, so we were able to go to the field without worries. Now...You should find your guild mates and make sure they receive that help from us to you. You should help them. Apparently Sinon and I have to help another person along the way..."

Kirito was now catching the glare from Leafa.

"Since we're using avatar names, let's get them out and fill the friend counter for all of us so we know everyone's okay at all times. Onii-chan, accept mine first."

Leafa wasn't having it anymore. She needed to be treated as the experienced player she was.

"Level five?! Already? I can understand if you were grinding the low level stuff around the town of the beginnings since this morning, but you became that much of a gamer?"

"And you two were the famous floor clearers?! Onii-chan!"

She was very upset with him. Since Kirito and Sinon had already done the friend request bit with each other and Klein before, Leafa kept on sending requests and receiving the accepts.

"Uh...Kirito. You are a guy so you might understand this. Your cousin is crazy cute right?! She's also totally my type."

Kirito grew a little frustrated at how much of a flirt Klein was already. He already flirted with him which was tolerable...barely...but now going after Leafa? He needed to get the girls away from such a creep. And he didn't have those kind of similarities with guys. Kirito wasn't a pervert, and revealing clothing wouldn't get him excited. After all, what could be more damaging than seeing a feminine figure every time you clean yourself?

"Take care of your friends Klein. The rest of us are going on ahead."

Kirito grabbed Leafa and Sinon by the wrist and started running through the alleys and streets which were still empty aside the vendor npcs and other roaming npcs. They didn't bother stopping or gearing up. There was another town further in with higher level quests more suitable to experienced players for the beta test which were time limited. He needed to take care of them. He finally had a chance to prove at least in some way that he was a boy, so what better way than to show them how well he could lead them?

Before the trio left the safe area, Kirito could feel eyes on him. A figure which was already covered in a robe with long light brown hair which looked ginger in the setting sun watched them leave. Perhaps it was someone who was looking for a group to help them. He couldn't bring them along, he thought. It would only prove his inability to lead and decrease the capability he had. First, maybe he might drop his interest in cooking for once and focus solely on leadership and combat type skills and growth...

When the first hostile monster on the main road crossed their path, his mind went blank from the thoughts before, he drew his sword, and swiftly cut through it with the fastest beginner sword skill. Sonic Leap. The level five wolf monster shattered to pixels the moment the skill ended, and Sinon and Leafa continued to follow behind without being pulled. One thing he kept in mind, if already running before using the Sonic Leap skill, the power is tripled. The amount of power could cut down anything up to a level eight monster in a single strike before the official launch. Maybe the skill was powered up in launch too.

The sun finished setting before they reached the next town.


	9. Chapter 9

"Over here mister eye candy!"

Those words belonged to the very first information broker the group had met. Little did she know, the group was from the beta test and was able to tell her more than she already knew. There were little things she did know about quests however which had been helping them recently.

The information broker was a girl slightly shorter than Kazuto with short blond hair and she always wore a hood to cover her face. Of course it went well with the feeling that an information broker could be dicey to trust, but she was well known for never lying. Kirito wondered if it was really a part of role playing, or if she might be hiding something she wore under the NerveGear. There was that possibility, and some people had shown up with animal ears stuck to the head of their avatar. It looked stranger on people with short enough hair that their human ears were visible. That was just embarrassing.

Argo had messaged the group a short while before that she had some information in exchange for the information they had as beta testers. They were slowly using up the data they had of the floor and the higher floors, but now she had a more...interesting kind of quest for them.

"So, you know how the basic foods you can buy like bread normally taste gross like cardboard? There's this quest that's been open since this morning and is still going apparently where you can get _butter_. Imagine, warm up the bread a little at an npc bakery and put some butter on it...? I'd like a bite if you can confirm this after with me. So? How about it?"

The information about getting to add ingredients already really excited the cooking spirit inside Kirito and Leafa. Especially Kirito. Leafa wouldn't actually become better at cooking outside of the game from the simple mechanics in the game. Of course it would take a lot of time and patience to get through the steps and grinding to master the cooking craft in the game, but it wasn't nearly as rewarding as actually learning to cook in real life. Maybe she could use the opportunity to have Kirito teach her how to cook. That idea seemed to leak to Sinon as she became more interested than sating a sense of taste alone.

"That sounds like it's worthy of...monster type of the first floor's dungeon. When we confirm your butter quest, we'll tell you about the dungeon a bit."

After a few days into the grind, the trio were already stacked as the highest level players at twenty-five each. They were geared in the strongest quest gear from the first floor, and if they had other groups just as strong, they would already be leading them into the dungeon to confirm the difficulty hike. They found the dungeon on the first night while grinding after sorting everything out between them.

"Kirito's just going to be super cook like usual. It wouldn't hurt to learn something from him while we all level up cooking together. Maybe we'll eventually start a guild of us and call ourselves something cooking related? It would be funny to hear something like _The Flying Cooks are dominating the floor clearing!_ , wouldn't it?"

Sinon seemed to find the suggestion funny, Kirito just giggled and shook his head.

"Darn it Kirito! Stop being more girly than us! Most groups are upset that none of us will join other guilds, and claim that all three of us are girls. Get an npc to give yourself a haircut tomorrow morning!"

Leafa was very irritable since they started adventuring together, but all three of them were truly enjoying it. Perhaps the change of pace from every day life to inside the game was so huge he finally noticed how expressive she really was.

"It's bad enough Kirito goes to a girls only school with us outside of game when you're actually a boy..."

She was really letting him have it, and when he could only sigh and answer her when she gave him a chance, he started.

"I really can't help other people's opinions. And with my hair, it feels like it's my real hair right now. You know the significance it is to me in real life right? Mom had me grow it all the time and take good care of it. If...if I were to get it cut, even in game, it feels like I'd be cursing her beyond the grave."

Being able to say that alone took a lot of strength for him, and Leafa regretted pushing him to say it when she saw the well rendered mimic of the expression he normally made.

"And about me going to the girls school. Please don't talk about that here. At least in real life, that for me is also something I can't help. Aunt and Uncle signed me up for the ladder school system with you two, and now I'm stuck in it until graduation. They accepted me in even though I am a boy, and now I have to keep up my personality so I don't force their hand to kick me out. It might all be because of things I'm so used to being like that I'm allowed in, but I'd really rather we were in a co-ed school."

He realized they were still in the presence of Argo, and were only turned away momentarily before she told them the details of how to start the quest for butter. He shyly turned around and sheepishly smiled at her.

"Is that a good enough payment for this quest, Argo-san?"

He hadn't used honorifics when talking to her up until that point, but when she smiled a familiar cat-like smile, the question was answered and she opened her menu to reveal the quest information she had.

"I won't tell anyone about this info about Kirito unless they ask in interest of dating. I'm sure there are some who are interested in that kind of thing, even with the crowd in here."

This time it was Leafa and Sinon who protested the idea of someone dating Kirito. Both had the intention to do so anyway.

"Anyway...So the quest starts by first buying a half dozen milk from the dairy stand, and then talking to the caller for the baker shop outside. Then she asks... Thank you Argo. We'll let you know how the quest goes when it's finished and save you a bite. We already know you don't count it as gold until we confirm it."

Argo waved at them as they walked off toward the dairy stand. The dark evening sky over the first floor of Aincrad was dismal to say the least. When the group started the quest by bringing a half dozen milk each to the bakery caller outside the shop, the true goal of bringing back drop items from the bull cows of the level twenty area, they knew that only higher level players would have been able to get the quest to work at that point, and it was already valid with Argo.

After a short grind until each of them had the required half dozen drop items, they returned to the bakery caller and she gifted them the reward of a block of butter. Apparently each butter could be used three times before it would run out. So they were good for three bread each...

Kirito Leafa and Sinon sat at the unoccupied end of a small garden near the bakery, pulled bread from their inventory and began the test. Kirito actually followed the suggestion of heating it instead of falling to the weakness of his stomach, and heated it briefly in the bakery before cutting a small opening into the centre of the loaf and applying as small an amount of the butter as possible before putting it away and taking a bite. Sinon and Leafa had already finished their buttered bread and were drooling over the rich scent of Kirito's warmed and buttered bun. With eyes over his shoulders, Kirito turned to notice that the other person on the other side of the garden who was bored and probably resting between quests had the same long light brown hair he recognized from when they left the Town of Beginnings on the first day. She had a cute face as she seemed to lean closer in to take a bite of his bread. When a notification for applying harassment to the player who seemed to now be climbing over him, he responded no to the prompt and stood up. She stared up at the bread he held in his hand and gulped as if the most delicious delicacy was hanging there from his hands.

"Uuuh...fine. But only one bite for each of you. I'll share the next one with Argo."

He left the trio of girls to eat the bread on the garden and sigh in satisfaction to heat up another bread to give it the warmed status before returning it to his inventory and returning to them.

"I said no more!"

They were staring at him expectantly when he returned. He looked at the call girl npc for the bakery, and even though he still had the half dozen milk, the quest was over.

"So? Who's the new member who replaced me while I was heating up the loaf for Argo and myself?"

The girl with long light brown hair and light brown eyes blinked when she realized he was talking about her. She pointed at herself just to be sure, and when he nodded his head in confirmation, she blinked and removed her hood.

"It's fine for a guild of girls to know if I'm also a girl...My name is Asuna. It's nice to meet you. I overheard something about maybe becoming a cooking guild sometime earlier on? Apparently the strength level of the butter quest is pretty high, so I wasn't able to do it and get my own. You...must be the guild leader right? Would you at least let me join you for a party and help me get a butter of my own?"

She seemed to be just as much of a cook as Kirito was outside of the game, totally drawn in by the taste and smell which were so well portrayed by the game's systems instead of just satisfying the sense of hunger the game provides over periods of time.

"We aren't really a guild yet, and I'm not really the leader although Leafa and Sinon do follow my lead most of the time. We're just the high level group of the area."

"Oh right! You three were the first ones to leave the Town of Beginnings right after that frightening announcement right? You must be experienced at this sort of thing...I'd really appreciate if you would help me out and teach me some things."

Kirito had one part of him telling him not to go along with it, especially since she still didn't realize he was a boy, but the part of him which wanted to protect a person from going to their death, and her passion for cooking which might drive her to trying the quest alone made the decision for him.

"Okay, we'll help you out with the quest. By the way, I'm Kirito. Also, I'm a boy, not a girl."

Asuna was completely surprised to hear about Kirito's gender, but the excitement of getting her own butter was much more attractive than the distraction of her having assumed his gender wrong.

"Thanks! Now...how do I do the party thing...?"

She stared and looked through the menu. Since it would be pointless anyway, Kirito invited her to the existing party he had with Leafa and Sinon. After she pressed the confirm button, he smiled and began telling her how to invite someone to a party so that she would know for next time.

"Oh right, and if a party is already formed and you try to invite someone who is already in a party, it won't work. That's why I invited you instead of waiting for you to get the error after looking through the menus until you figured it out. Here, I'll also send out a party friend request so you can accept us to your friends list. That way you'll know where we are and that we're safe, and we know the same for you."

"That's...a very convenient thing. It's like that horrible man was trying to make it fair for us to try and clear the game."

Kirito frowned and was about to answer, but instead Leafa and Sinon were ready to go out and get Asuna her drops from the monster. In between monsters, Kirito tried a few crafting tricks since he had already been tinkering with it a little, and found out he was able to break down the horns of the bull cow they were fighting, and mix it with a milk to create a block of butter. It didn't take long when he went off the leads of what were involved in the quest, but surely not all ingredients would be so simple like that. After he figured that out, the next monster dropped the last item for Asuna to turn in.

"Might as well mention it since I just figured it out...there's a way to craft the butter ingredient."

Asuna stared in excitement.

"First, you break down the bull cow horn to a powder, then you mix it with milk. The result is the same butter item we receive from the quest. The level requirement and the drop item search is still the same, but now at least we know it isn't limited to the blocks we get from the quest alone."

"More info to plan on convincing Argo-san with for keeping your secret hidden?"

Leafa was being cheeky as always. It almost reminded Kirito of Shiro.

"Well, if it'll help, but no. I'm more interested in being able to find out more ingredients that can be made from the breaking down and mixing of ingredient class items we obviously wouldn't put into food."

Leafa and Sinon looked at each other and gave a confused expression.

"Ingredient items we wouldn't use in food? Like what?"

Kirito sighed and pulled a goblin horn from his inventory.

"Like a goblin horn, like this. Would you really like to eat something with an obvious poison effect and risk dying outside a safe area because of it? I also got success turning a goblin horn to powder and mixing it with valley herbs from that other quest and got hi-potions. There are small and subtle hints to mixing and getting things, but if someone goes into the inventory and just decided since they're feeling the hunger sensation tick, they'll randomly eat a toxic bee stinger, they could die from it. Ingredients though are not food items can be consumed raw. It's like a punishment for careless people and idiots."

For some reason, Klein popped in his head and he checked the status screen for his friends only to feel like Klein would feel disheartened Kirito would doubt him that much.

"Kirito is very smart... I didn't know you were doing that in you inn room."

Asuna was very interested in everything they were talking about. She was getting a lot of juicy information from beta testers after all. Not counting that she didn't know that, she was more interested in the use of combining and mixing mechanics for useful items and freeing up the inventory space clogged by monster drops.

"Oh, that's right Asuna. You're already level twenty one, so it would be good to find a group of your level and work together with them to level up and such."

She seemed a little hurt when he suggested it.

"Why don't you let me stay with your group? I was able to handle myself well against those powerful enemies before, and we did well even when you took your break to check the mixing mechanic."

Asuna was certain of the decision to stick with them. Of that, he was sure when the determination filled her eyes. It were as if the pixels didn't separate them at all.

"Well...sure. As long as Leafa and Sinon are okay with it."

When they nodded their heads, they finally headed back into the town and finished up Asuna's copy of the quest before meeting up with Argo.

"Another girl added to the group? And she has long hair. Don't tell me she's like Kirito?"

"No...she's a cooking enthusiast like me though. This is Asuna. We can confirm the legitimacy of the butter quest and I also have related information. When you break down the drop item meant for the quest and mix it with the milk, it becomes the same item from the quest. Basically the same thing, but it's a little more effort by buying the milk every time you mix one with the powdered horn."

She nodded her head and recorded the information in a limitless book she had bought from the Town of Beginnings.

"And now I suppose you want me to keep that other information I heard before a secret? Not even for other players who ask about you in aim to date?"

"Especially! ...Especially not those people. Our goal in the game should be to clear it and get back to our lives, not flirt around and waste time which could be helping us get out of the game."

The rest of the group seemed to take it hard since that evening they had been having so much fun together. Of course since they were still experiencing a game, they should be enjoying as much as possible as they went along, but every second in the game was a second the missed of their real lives.

"This is a game, and I get that some people don't have the same sense of urgency...but any more than relaxing between quests and working toward the end goal just feels like they aren't even trying and leaving it to the people who are more urgent to get out. I mean, Sinon Leafa and myself are already the top level of 25 after two days being trapped here, and we're looking for other groups ready to take on the dungeon. We're fifteen levels beyond what Sinon and I were alone to clear the first floor in beta. When we weren't being careful. Now we have to act as if letting our hit points reach zero is the end forever. We need to treat our lives more precious..."

Talking about it reminded him just how precious life had become for him. In real life, he lost his parents. His whole life changed three years ago, and now it was changed again. This time, he was going to prove he was stronger from what happened last time. It seemed that his better mood had picked Sinon up as well. She was feeling better, and even though the pixels were between them, he could feel that the lifeless sense her eyes gave before, disconnected from the life she was living was gone. She was living again.

Leafa was happy to hear the difference in his voice. The strength that she admired and loved about him. Asuna seemed to be more encouraged by his little speech.

"I'm so glad you all are letting me join you. It was so nerve wracking being careful not to have creeps after me. With others I'll be less nervous. Especially since Kirito seems to be a good guy and not even remotely a pervert...unless you like boys?"

Kirito violently shook his head until the dizzy status appeared, which only provided fuel for laughter.

"Oh right, you promised proof Kirito! Now, I'm expecting my bite of bread with butter."

He could sense as the other's gazes fell on the butter and bread as he readied a piece for Argo, and he finally took a bite.

"Oh fine then. Might as well use up my inventory of bread and butter for now since I know I can make them now from drops. If it'll keep everyone from staring at my food items."

Even Asuna couldn't hold herself back. Certainly it wasn't too unexpected the first time, but now she was used to the taste of the warm bread with butter. As a fellow cook, he was the smallest bit disappointed. That faded though when everyone was satisfied in the end. Argo was completely pleased with how the information on the quest turned out and a little mischievous about the group's other kind of information. Now it was three girls and a boy together though they looked to all be girls.

She did have other information which she considered free to them to share however.

"Oh, this older looking guy in red and white came by earlier and he had a one hand sword class like Kirito and Leafa except he also had a large shield. He's leading a small guild. They're not the issue although he's worth keeping an eye on. The issue is that a party is already forming to charge through the dungeon and the highest level of that group is eighteen. You might want to warn them off or join them if you think they'll be good enough to clear the floor with. Oh, and apparently one of the people in that group claimed themselves a beta tester. I don't believe claim of a beta tester unless they're above twenty at this point. But keep an eye out for that when you check that group. They're meeting at the ruined stadium near the outskirts of this town tomorrow morning."

The group seemed to be in agreement that they would ensure the safety of the group since they knew in advance what was coming.

"Thank you for today Argo. You're helping a lot."

"And your information on mixing and ingredients is helping me save a lot of newbies. You wouldn't believe how many people were able to save themselves with the antidote trick you told me after they were afflicted by a hornet mob sting. At least a dozen times today."

Kirito was becoming well known as the ingredients master as she apparently further explained. The group were tired though, and they needed to set an alarm so the game would wake them up early for the meeting of the other groups in the morning.


	10. Chapter 10

Kirito and the rest of the party were ready and at the meeting place when only a level eighteen player was standing in the centre of the attention area of the ruined stadium. They were waiting for the rest of the large group to gather.

"While we're waiting, you're a high level group, correct? I greatly accept your assistance should you decide to help us today."

Kirito nodded his head, stood up and walked over in case there were people from the group watching and waiting for others to enter the area and take a seat.

"Hi there. Am I right to guess you're the person who organized this group?"

He nodded his head in confirmation and kept his eyes on Kirito. He seemed to be less of the pervert type than other male players. He kept his eyes from drifting after all.

"Good, then maybe you can tell me who from your group is the supposed beta tester? The only reason I can think of for a beta tester to be below level twenty at this point is if they were training the rest of this raid group you're all forming."

"Ah, he said his name was...it was...I honestly can't remember. It sounds a little obnoxious and you'll know him right away because he does have a foul attitude to other beta testers. Are your group beta testers? It might be better not to mention that. This group doesn't really like mention of beta testers..."

"Most of our group is beta testers, but that's why you should listen. Even if you have a full raid party who know the mechanics of the boss fight at the end of the dungeon, it's a lot of trouble if you don't at minimum set raid minimum level for twenty. When the dungeon is hit today, I very much recommend grinding the mobs of the dungeon until everyone reaches twenty. If you're ready when you reach the boss room, we'll be waiting for you. If you aren't ready by this evening, we'll have returned to town. This is for everyone's good. Don't burn out the group and risk casualties in a rush to clear the game. Be smart."

He took Kirito's suggestion seriously. While the suggestions and words were quietly passed from Kirito to the raid leader, others were slowly joining the seats of the stadium. Some were trying to sit close to the rest of the party, but they were making it very obvious that they were off limits.

"Hey leader, she your type and already taken? How about the other three?"

"No, she is the leader of a stronger party and has just told me valuable information for our dungeon run today. I will be considering this information for the meeting. I suggest against the direction of in game relationships unless bonds naturally form while experiencing this time together. Chasing a relationship will only waste our time stuck in this game."

While a few nodded in agreement to the statement, there were many who seemed to be eager skirt chasers who were disappointed.

The leader of the raid party finally began when a final, obviously obnoxious player sat down around the centre of the seating arrangement. His armour appearance was bright and flashy, and he wore a one hand sword on his back like Kirito. It was as if he was trying to mock him, but Kirito didn't pay him any mind other than that he might be the one who claimed being a beta tester. That couldn't be right though. He had the lowest level of everyone gathered.

"Today we meet here before setting off into the dungeon of this first floor. I have received guidance from a high level player with experience that it would be wise to use the dungeon for levelling. That any lower than level twenty would be a waste of time and life on the boss monster. We need to be cautious and careful to learn against the enemies of the dungeon. Remember that the information books sold by the information vendor in the Town of Beginnings has recount of beta testers that dungeon monsters resemble the floor boss. Sometimes, floor bosses won't have additional monsters to defeat along with them, but such monsters can appear in the first floor boss fight, and they are much stronger than their counterparts in the dungeon. If we do not reach the minimum goal level of twenty with the entire raid party by sundown time this evening, six thirty, we will return to town, as we won't have the assistance of the high level group after that point. It would be pointless to go into the fight exhausted, and even more a risk than being under level. Today, I want to follow the high level group led by the black haired swordswoman at the back, and everyone learn their techniques so that we might have better odds against the floor boss. We will not risk our lives for a faster clear if we can ensure our safety to return to town by being a little more careful. Would the group led by the black haired swordswoman step forward and give some words before we set off for the dungeon?"

First, Kirito was starting to think at least within the raid group it was fine to let them continue to think of him as female, so not to cause drama for the others in the party. When they finished lining up beside the raid leader in the centre of the stadium, the obnoxious claimant of being a beta tester stood up.

"Let me guess, a group of beta testers finally decided they're going to help us clear the game and stop people from dying against the mobs down here?"

The raid leader was the one to respond.

"Remember that though we have received a lot of information from the beta test period and it's all available in the information book in the Town of Beginnings, this is also dated. Even powerful new players can be more valuable if a beta tester went into the dungeon expecting it to be easier. Monsters are stronger now than they were during the beta test. You have already stated that you were part of the beta test, and that the monsters are stronger. Should we not take your word for it and be more careful?"

He seemed to only grow more sour.

"Then why the hell haven't the floor clearers of the beta test already cleared us a couple of floors and proven what the difficulty stretch is?"

"Need you be reminded that only ten floors were cleared after the entire time of the two months of the beta test? Or did you not participate in the whole thing? All of this information is in the book I have been mentioning. Even if those who were famous for clearing the floors were here, if they weren't as cautious when tackling the dungeon before now, they might have died against the dungeon mobs while trying to gain faster levels. Just because a person was a beta tester, doesn't mean they are going to free us from the game. We need to work together as a whole, not condemn the beta testers."

His words seemed to hold enough weight that saying those words might have convinced most of the group it wasn't so bad if there were beta testers there to help them. It wouldn't be wise to already tell them about Kirito and Sinon's floor clearing during the beta. Instead, Kirito would reveal that all but one of the group was from the beta test.

"Hi everyone, and thank you for allowing us to join your pre dungeon run meeting. I am Kirito. I, Sinon and Leafa were part of the beta test. Asuna from our group is not from the beta test, though she stands well with us. We have experienced dungeon combat during the beta test, and we had checked it against the dungeon as it is now. The difficulty of the monsters is at least twice as much, with the monsters having three times more health, and a different attack from usual. The monster type of floor one's dungeon and boss is Kobold. They are nimble and good at dodging, so get a good handle on using your sword skills. Without sword skills or basic combat knowledge outside of the game, it would be highly unlikely a person could land a single strike on them. They had five different attack patterns. A shield bash is the most annoying with a stun effect which makes it impossible to move for a short time. They have a power strike which can be easily blocked as it takes the most time to wind up. They also have a sweeping strike which uses their tail to try and knock nearby opponents to the ground. Their final two of the original patterns are a swift horizontal and diagonal strike which can be blocked, however it's smarter to parry or counter those. Those are incredibly valuable abilities, so be certain to learn how to use them and the timing against the dungeon enemies. The final ability these dungeon enemies were given, is a knock back ability. They charge at you and headbutt you to knock you ten feet from where they hit you. If your group agrees to form a full raid party, we wouldn't be against assisting with a grind to have you all reach level twenty. We are already level twenty five aside Asuna who is at level twenty one. We have not yet attempted the boss, as it would be foolish not to take a full raid when the dungeon difficulty had increased as much as it has. If there is no protest from the full group, we are ready to lead the way into the dungeon. I understand there is some dislike for beta testers, but I'm sure you now realize the position we are in. Though we played the game before, it's almost entirely different in difficulty, and there are new elements. We have experience, but we are still only human like the rest of you. I could almost guarantee some of the other beta testers made mistakes and lost their lives before the announcement on the first day. It's terrible, but it only reminds us more we should work together. Thank you for listening, and I hope you will work with us today to clear the first floor."

The obnoxious player stood up again gnashing his teeth at how annoyed he was of Kirito's words and the group in front of them.

"I heard it was mostly guys who were in the beta test. How's a group of girls better than the pro pair of guys who cleared ten floors? You girls must be a pretty joke who were all hanging out in the Town of Beginnings the whole time."

Kirito was getting his buttons pushed.

"You do remember the mirrors, correct? If a player was in a masculine avatar and they were doing the floor clearing before, then if they suddenly were forced to play as themselves, a female player who had played the boss floors during beta could be that...never mind. I'm not dancing around it. I was the shorter of the pair of floor clearing players during the beta test. Sinon with the blue hair was the taller male avatar of our pair, and we alone cleared all ten floors during the beta. Want to know the difference of difficulty from beta testers who did leave the Town of Beginnings? This game wants to kill us now. Before, it was fun and it was easy to get through the first few floors before just messing around. Now, even setting foot into the first dungeon is like fighting the dungeon of the eighth floor. Everything is out to kill us, and we have to make use of everything the game has given us to survive. Not happy with the fact that two of our group were the so hated floor clearers who hadn't seemed to show up? Then fine, we won't wait for you and look for another raid group to tackle the floors with. No more suggestions and trying to keep your group alive. If you're foolish enough to let petty hatred from a beta tester who never really experienced the game, then you might as well let a weak boar from right outside the Town of Beginnings ram you to death. We're here to clear the game and return to our real lives. Please don't be idiots and think about the situation carefully. I'll be happy to help out anyone who is ready to give the dungeon a serious run. Anyone who's still being a petty idiot, leave."

Everyone was convinced except the obnoxious idiot claiming himself a beta tester. There were plenty during the beta test who stayed in the Town of Beginnings, but for such a petty and stupid hatred to come from their lack of courage and intellect to make it to the floor clearing and dungeons and enjoy the game as a game when it was one during the test, it disappointed Kirito those kind of people were stuck in the game.

The flashy armoured obnoxious swordsman stood up and stomped out of the stadium.

"Now, I'll let the rest of my party introduce themselves, but first a finish to my introduction. I am Kirito. I prefer the one hand sword type combat type without a shield. This is because outside of the game, I was a high ranking student in kendo, and while it adds to my ability in the game, it does also add to what the game can offer my kendo. My weapon type is good for parrying, countering and unleashing a great amount of damage in a short time, however it does have the drawback of being less defensive and requires stronger armour for defence."

Sinon stood beside him, and she stepped forward for her introduction.

"I am Sinon. As another of the floor clearing beta testers, I fully agree with Kirito's statement that we will not stand for reckless charges against the floor bosses. Again, I agree that the difficulty of this first floor's dungeon is about as difficult as the floor eight dungeon in beta, and the boss might be as difficult as the floor ten boss during the beta. If this is the case, then I would much rather us all be above level thirty. However, that would be much more grinding than the game seems to be indicating. An average level of twenty sounds about right. I am a dagger user. My weapon type is more speed focused and the least defensive of all weapon types currently. I honestly would very much prefer daggers if they were dual wield like they were in the beta... Dagger skills include a bonus to strength of attacks from behind, and act like an assassin in other older role playing games. This is the kind of play style I have, paired with the hiding and stealth abilities."

Next to step forward was Leafa. She basically worked the same as Kazuto, but she was more diligent to the way her kendo lessons had taught her so far. She was disappointed Kirito was letting it bleed in with his kendo so easily. Her introduction went by quickly enough that she and the rest of the group wanted to forget it. The boys in the crowd watching them only had their eyes on her chest while she talked after all.

Finally, Asuna's turn.

"Hello everyone. I am Asuna. I practised my sword style for a few years when I was younger and I am proud to say it has helped me build a very satisfying and exhilarating speed with which I can use my rapier. Kirito has already vouched for me, but I believe it would do me well to catch up to their level during the training in the dungeon today. My weapon type is good for frontal attacks, stunning and knock back as well as dealing a great amount of damage in a short amount of time. I believe it might be nearly as powerful as the one hand sword style, but I haven't yet had the chance to compare it to Kirito as much as with Leafa. I am confident in being able to face any monster of this floor with this group, and I will do my best to help others here progress further through this game until we can make it out."

With that, it seemed the meeting was adjourned. The raid leader opened an alliance invitation with Kirito as the leader of his party. When they were partnered up and ready for experience sharing to the lower level players, they set out for the dungeon.


	11. Chapter 11

"Good, now try to jump back just before the blade comes down. If you get the timing just right, you'll notice you have a very short stat boost for the quick evade. That boost is a large stack to your strength that you can use on enemies of this level to instantly kill them. If you're surrounded and using the spear type weapon, use the helical twice skill to wipe them all out."

Kirito was coaching spear users as they went against a few small crowds of Kobolds while the others of his party were coaching other people based on the weapon types they used. Sinon taught the dagger users, Leafa taught the one hand sword users and scimitar users, and Asuna taught the rapier users. Kirito was going from group to group of the other kinds of weapon users so that he could help them all with their different advantages and disadvantages.

"So, spears are good for clearing a large amount of enemies on the lower levels?"

"Yes. If you are careful and have something to regenerate your health in case a hit or two lands on you, then even that won't effect how you play. People using a large weapon type that have many skills for clearing large amounts of enemies have more of a damage absorption role. It's scary-terrifying even since if our hit points reach zero it's over, but with you, you should always have a person designated for using healing items in case your regeneration items of your own use run out. For every small group in the main party, we'll have one person focus on a sub-healing role using items. Your job is to keep enemy focus on you. In other MMOs, this means you have a tanking role. The people using healing items would be sub-healers. Other roles in a small group would fall under dps. Dps focus on dealing as much damage as possible so that enemies fall faster. The tank takes on mechanics and does their best to take everything. Parrying attacks, countering them, and with the large weapon types, it's possible to stun an enemy when they're trying to do a power move. With the Kobolds, their running charge is the stunning move. Fortunately that's also a weak point for a skilled player to counter, and can be used for an instant kill of the enemy."

The spear users were backed up by the axe users currently. So far, nobody had unlocked the two hand swords and katana weapon types of the lead group. Two hand swords required mastery of the one hand sword type, and katanas as mentioned before require the mastery of the scimitar type weapon.

Kirito was switching between the types of weapon which were dropping from the dungeon to show examples instead of just telling the groups the advice he had.

"It's crazy that-never mind. My old bro used to always say that girls weren't any good at games, but obviously my bro's just an idiot right?"

The whole raid group heard that joke and laughed. The kobolds of the middle floor were just right for grinding and teaching. Kirito's group had already been to the top section of the first floor. That was where the boss room was. The enemies there were a little too much to grind for experience and levels. It was fine for them, but for the rest of the raid party, it would be too much. At least until they finally reached the minimum required level of twenty five minutes ago during the in depth lessons.

"Alright, I'm switching back to my regular weapon type. Now...let's have the raid leader from Leafa's learning group help me get everyone ready for the boss fight."

Kirito was really taking a good lead at the teaching and leading. He felt a lot of awkward feelings regarding being a leader, but it was better by far than letting everyone think he was just like a typical girl. Especially since he wasn't. The raid group didn't know about him being male though.

"Now, spear and axe users, hurry over to the safe area. I'll round everyone else up for a boss strategy meeting."

After a confirmation of them turning around and nodding their heads, the five players turned and walked over to the safe area they picked out to train nearby so that if things looked bad, they could duck out of battle and heal up with items. He went around to each group and after a few minutes, everyone was gathered in the safe area, and Kirito stood with the raid leader so they could start the boss strategy meeting.

"Now, I'll start off the boss strategy meeting, though I would appreciate Sinon helping me describe the old boss mechanics."

Sinon stepped forward and stood beside him with a bit of a shy expression. She wasn't fond of crowds of strangers. Especially since this group had already made it obvious many of them were perverts.

"Alright...so, when our group went ahead to scout the top section of this floor, we did find the boss room. Some boss rooms later on won't be able to be checked before a battle, but within the first ten floors during the beta test, Sinon and I were able to get a look at the situation before picking our strategy. We used the check to ensure what this boss battle will look like. Now, we have the main boss this time around. This is a giant kobold who instead of during the beta wielded an axe, this time has a scimitar type weapon. This kobold has the same kind of attack types as the scimitar type we've found in the dungeon. Bosses like other good quality MMOs have other mechanics when you get their health down to increments. When this boss made it to the yellow state of their health bar, it started backing off more last time and having the additional enemies which respawn frequently, kobolds stronger than the main dungeon taking the lead. When it reached the red health state, it started unleashing power attacks which were different from all the other attack patterns. I would like for my group to take charge of the boss monster so that we can ensure the rest of the group doesn't have too much to handle. I will play a tanking role with my one hand sword-"

"Weren't you saying before that spear and axe wielders should play tanking roles until the other large area weapon types are unlocked?"

"That's a point, however when a person knows the mechanics and has ways of stopping them as I also mentioned before, they can play the tank role just as well. So that we don't risk someone who doesn't know the mechanics as much, I'll lead tank Asuna offered before and she will be the healing item user of our party and add in her quick array of attacks when the opportunity is there. I know the mechanics of the kobold lord enough that I should be able to dodge most attacks and therefore not need healing very often. This means that Asuna's healing role will mostly become dps. Sinon and Leafa will primary the dps on it. We will group everyone else up into groups of four, all with a single tank role and healer role. The rest will play dps. For the other groups, the tank roles will be handled by the spear and axe users. If any remain, they will be off healers so that the people with higher single target dps can take down the additional monsters as fast as possible. When there are periods additional monsters aren't on the field, you can lend aid to our party against the boss monster, but don't try to pull aggro."

Everyone seemed to understand their roles right away. Sinon had her bit to add in though.

"Now, this is also important. Every tank needs an off-tank role to help them when they need to get out of a mechanic. Remember the switch mechanic we taught you before? The lead tank stuns the enemy so that the off tank can take their role with an aggro drawing skill. Kirito used this often against the boss monsters of the beta test, and because it was a need. When the enemies are strong, ensure you pick someone who knows mechanics enough to off-tank. When the main tank is ready to take their position again, the off tank will stun the enemy again and the main tank will use their aggro building skill to pull attention back to them. Go over the details of your currently available skills list and ensure if you are only playing a dps role, you don't have an aggro generating skill left available. Pick out the skills you can trust and stick to those. Attack from the rear and flank as dps, and focus down your enemies as fast as possible so that we can make it through the boss fight as quickly and safely as possible."

"Those are the instructions we have from the beta testers, does anyone have any more questions for them before we head out?"

The area was silent, except apparently the one who left had returned and was still bent on interfering.

"Yeah, what about that rumour that floor bosses drop a last hit bonus item? Aren't the beta group just going to hog all the rare drops from the boss monsters?"

"You excused yourself from this group back in town. Leave."

The raid leader wasn't having his interference. Everyone else was sick of hearing his obnoxious and hateful tone.

"There is a final hit bonus drop, however it's a low chance it will drop to the person who lands the final hit, and it's also why I said that the other groups can lend their aid to our group whenever the rest of the additional mobs are taken care of. Let's make it fair for the drop items. Whoever gets it, gets it. However, if someone in our group gets it, we might share it amongst ourselves. Whoever needs it in our group will get the item if we get it. This is only so that we can gather as much strength as possible to continue defeating boss monsters along the way up. Unless another group surpasses us, this is how we'll handle things."

The raid leader was in agreement that if the lead group got the drop, then it belonged to them, for the purpose of clearing the game. The whole goal was to get out after all.

"Now, if everyone who is party of this raid party is ready, let's head out."

The obnoxious player snarled at Kirito as he watched everyone walk off.

"I heard from an information broker~That black haired swordswoman of the lead group you all have a crush on~"

He was silenced with a well placed pebble to the forehead. When he saw Kirito looking at him with a death glare, terror ran down the obnoxious player's spine.

"Screw you all then! Hope you all die to the boss!"

Everyone was glad when he finally stopped shouting at them.

"He has a serious vendetta out for you...think you might have met him during the beta?"

Sinon whispered to Kirito as they walked to the head of the group.

"No. Remember, I was with you during most of the beta. I didn't have time to deal with pests like that. Although I am a little worried he might have used money to buy the information on me being a guy from Argo. I'd like to think better of her, but the stereotype on information brokers right? I'm only going along with it right now to let the raid group think I'm a girl, but I really hate it. It's okay though because it's for everyone's sake. Not to draw more bad attention to us. Right now, they're following our lead because they only consider us a powerful female group, not a group who's leader is a super feminine boy. Some might take that knowledge and say that you're being tricked by me, even though you all know, and some might say it's unfair since they're perverts and demand to be part of the group."

Sinon giggled and shook her head.

"You and Asuna are the only ones who seem to exude a bunch of femininity at this point. Leafa-chan and me are just like normal. The three of us did kendo together for most of our childhood, so we're speaking with our strengths here. You're as much a cooking nut as Asuna, and honestly, I think it's super cute. Sometimes I wish you'd be more like you are during the leadership speeches we've had since joining the raid group, and it's so satisfying for me. You're good at being cool and being cute. That's what makes Kirito, Kirito."

She smiled and walked a little ahead of him. Sinon was being a lot more honest with herself and she had really grown in personality since the incident before. It seemed that maybe playing a different role in the beta test opened up her real self that much more. Kirito was reminded of his feelings for her every time she showed her strengths. As she walked ahead of him to the boss door, he saw the strong figure of a girl who had seen horrors beyond belief and faced them with fear and overcame them. She was so much stronger than him, and he admired that about her. He loved that about her.

Finally after about twenty minutes of walking through the safe path discovered through the mapping before, the raid group arrived at the massive door to the boss room.

"Now, let's organize items and pick our final groups before we begin. The group of myself Sinon, Leafa and Asuna will stay the same. Remember, pick your groups based on a main and off tank, a healer role, and then the remaining will be dps. There's a chance that one group will not find themselves occupied with an additional mob, and they can switch with the other groups for taking mobs. Everyone might have a chance to focus dps on the boss outside the group with me. Any final questions?"

There were none. When that was confirmed, the raid leader walked up to the door and pushed it open. In just a moment, they would be taking the first real step toward getting out of the game.


	12. Chapter 12

The giant kobold seemed larger to Kirito when the door closed behind the group, sealing them in for the fight, no way out but to win. The group had a moment for last organization to start making their move on the monsters. If Kirito's group were heading directly to the boss, there were two smaller kobolds in the way. He already knew they would focus and evade check them down along the way to the boss and he would pull aggro.

The raid leader finally started making his role clear. He took lead of his group and started organizing how groups would handle the smaller mob groups and switch off to focus dps on the boss while his group had it occupied. He was only following what was already said by Kirito during the previous meetings the group had. They had a very good chance at winning this without losing a single person. As long as nobody tried to take on more than they were comfortable with. Kirito did a level check on the enemy monsters. The boss monster was level thirty. His group was just short of that at the moment. Asuna had reached level twenty six during the training, while Leafa and Sinon reached twenty nine. Kirito was at thirty, and rightfully so as the main tank. The rest of the group had a minimum level of twenty, while the maximum level shot up to twenty four. The raid leader was the only from the rest of the group at level twenty four, so it was relieving that everything fell so nicely into place.

"Okay, everyone's ready? Let's charge in...now!"

As soon as the word left his mouth, everyone charged off. Kirito's group were by far faster with their movement speed. Kirito used his sonic leap on each of the kobolds in the way, Sinon used a weapon bash skill to stun them, Leafa followed with her own use of sonic leap and Asuna finished them off with a close range rapier move called sweep. The group was already against the boss of the first floor. Kirito drew aggro using his stronger aggro generating move, vertical square. The move staggered and pulled the enemy's attention to Kirito and it let out a howl. It started launching its faster attacks at Kirito, but no matter ho fast the boss was even compared to the smaller kobolds, he picked up the exact moment to back step for bonus damage effect and when to parry or counter instead. Parrying gave him more ability to use skills, countering did five times the damage of a non-skill move, essentially using a skill without expending points.

For the first bar of health, the boss monster was a simple piece of work. Even though tanks aren't usually meant to do more damage than dps, Kirito was definitely the one securing the most damage. In the meantime, Asuna hadn't had the need to use a single item on him. Or anyone else for that matter. Other groups were handling their healing perfectly, and they were handling focusing down the additional monsters the best they could.

Kirito managed to dodge everything. Not a single attack from the giant kobold could reach him. It felt...exciting. Like he could move so much faster than he ever could have in real life. Of course the system helped with some movement, but it did require a base ability from a person to do well in the virtual environment.

Just as Kirito was about to dodge another heavy downward swing, another group was running in to put in some dps for a moment. The raid leader was part of the group and had went in as if to switch off with Kirito.

"No! Leap back now!"

It was too late. The raid leader had his arm removed in that single downward slash. His group healer managed to heal the initial damage, but he had a heavy bleeding effect that he would die from if the bleeding didn't get stopped in the next minute.

"Healer of that group, if you have a boar tusk in your inventory from the town of beginnings, pull him back and powder the tusk. Rub the powder against the wound area of raid leader and the bleeding effect will stop. Your group will pull out until his arm regenerates."

Kirito had learned so much in the down time between battles and rest time, that it was mind boggling how much weak and useless ingredients could be used. When he experimented with each item's uses, it would turn out that something as easy to get as a guaranteed drop boar tusk from those mobs right outside the first town's gate could stop bleeding and grant a one health per second regeneration bonus. Kirito tested it on a kobold slash he took on purpose earlier in the dungeon. He wanted to figure out if there was something to stop a bleeding effect. Thank goodness it came in such good use.

"Thank you, Kirito."

The raid leader seemed a little weak as he said those words. His hit points were back at full already and the only thing wrong with him was that his avatar was temporarily missing the right arm and his weapon. The bleeding effect was gone. In half a day, the system would restore his arm to his body and it would be like normal.

Kirito was feeling vengeant for the raid leader's injury, and decided he would use the final skill he unlocked for the one hand sword skills already. He already had it considered mastered in the system, meaning he could use two hand swords now, but he would only do so if he eventually needed to. The ultimate skill he unlocked for one hand swords, phantom rave partially stunned the giant kobold for a moment, and by the time the skill ended, the skill pulling Kirito's body along, the health bar for the boss monster dropped from a little short of two full bars remaining, to the final third bar. Kirito's skill points just regenerated enough to unleash that same skill again, but at that moment, the boss monster wound up for its own skill. It was in the red.

"Everyone get back!"

Kirito waited until he could feel it in the system, the exact moment to use the counter skill. Instead of doing as usual and unleashing something as strong as a player's regular skill, it was a counter to the strength of the attack of the boss monster. The remaining bit of the boss monster's health bar flashed to empty. A second after the health bar emptied, it burst into pixels and the music changed in the background to something signifying a victory.

Kirito checked his inventory just in case the item dropped. When he noticed it did, he smiled when he realized it was something he might wear. A black cloak that could help hide his hair.

The room was still silent as far as the people were concerned. Maybe it was still registering for them that the battle was won. Kirito donned the cloak over his hair and shoulders to show the item which dropped to the rest of the group. If not for his use of the counter skill, the ultimate attack from the boss monster might have wiped everyone in the room, even if unengaged with it.

"We did it everyone!"

Kirito said those words and the exhaustion of pushing himself so far got to him. He fell unconscious standing up, and fell to the floor. Sinon and Leafa rushed over to make sure he was okay. They didn't even look at the status or the hit points. When Asuna walked over and sighed in relief, they asked why. She responded.

"Well, why don't you just look at the condition in the status screen? Full health and no ailments. He's just exhausted from countering a boss' ultimate move. That was amazing..."

She was very excited from the aftermath of the battle. Everyone was giddy and felt accomplished. Now the only thing for the group to do, was move on to the town above the dungeon and unlock the teleport gate so that even those who didn't participate could move on to the next floor. Sinon and Leafa carried Kirito out of the dungeon and to the nearest inn when they exited the dungeon and gave him a shared room for the entire party to rest in. Asuna wasn't thrilled with the idea at first, but they all deserved a rest. Fourteen hours since waking up of nearly non-stop grinding and finishing with a boss battle...they really pushed themselves.

"Well...Kirito isn't a pervert, and he would probably just leave the room as soon as he wakes up if he does before us because of how he is. Let's get some rest."

Asuna seemed to be the voice of reason. They were all girls, and Kirito was a boy, no matter how feminine he was in appearance or personality.

Sinon pointed out the drop reward from the boss which covered him instead of the blanket on the bed. The black cloak which hid his hair.

"That's so like him, isn't it? Maybe he'll go from being called the black haired swordswoman to the black clothed swordsman later..."

Asuna and Leafa agreed. It definitely suited him. They all bid each other rest for the evening, and wouldn't awake until noon the next day. Kirito wouldn't wake for a little longer than that.


	13. Chapter 13

Kirito finally awoke the evening after the defeat of the kobold lord. Apparently everyone was chalking it up to the difference in strength when he countered the ultimate skill of the boss monster. The raid party disbanded, but everyone was eager to try and work to the next floor boss together again.

In the mean time, Leafa and Sinon went ahead to do some material gathering on the new floor. After gathering plenty of as many drop items as they could gather from the new monster types, they returned in the evening while Asuna was using the kitchen of the inn to try and do some cooking. The smell of the cooking down in the inn kitchen was what woke Kirito up. He was confused at first that the room he was in had four beds, but when he thought about it, it made sense. The rest of the group might decide it wasn't bad because it was him, and they needed rest. And they forgot to disband the party before registering a room. The last option was the most likely as he got out of the bed.

The cloak he wore which covered his long hair as the reward for defeating the first floor boss felt very relaxing. He checked its statistics while he had nothing else immediately on his mind and noticed it had decent defensive stats and a resistance to stun. It also had a minor regenerative status. It was a very useful cloak he might end up using for a long time, especially as a tank.

He went through the rest of the inventory and finally started sorting through the drops from the kobolds to see what kind of effects those items would have went broken down. Weapons could be turned into scrap since they were unusable by players, and used for upgrading player weapons...tusks and tails could be used for antidotes for paralysis and poison. Kobold eyes could be mixed with that same valley herb from before to create a permanent boost item to detection stats. That was the most useful thing he noticed, and then something really caught his attention. Kobolds also dropped an item called a berry powder, but it could be ground into a spice. When he went through the process for one, he recognized the smell immediately.

"Pepper!"

"That's what it's missing! Wait..."

He recognized Asuna's voice and was confused it was so clear even though the inn door...was...not closed.

He hopped off the bed, held the pepper item in his hand and rushed down to the main floor of the inn. It wasn't familiar to him, so when he finally found the kitchen, Asuna was perplexed.

"But how can I get pepper in this game? There's nothing like that in the drops we encountered..."

Kirito had his argument and the item ready as he added it carefully to the pot she was cooking some stew of boar meat and other items we had been gathering before. It smelled good, but when the pepper item from the kobold drop was added, the scent felt like it could be the best the game yet had to offer together.

"Ah! Kirito! Did you finally just wake up?"

"I've been sorting through my inventory from the dungeon haul when I woke up...fifteen minutes ago. Apparently someone forgot to close the door to the room, and you heard me shout pepper. Go on...taste it."

She gave him a curious look, but going with his insisting, she scooped a bit of the broth into her mouth and it hit her.

"You added to it! You added pepper! Where did you get it?! How?!"

"The berry item from the kobold drop can be powdered and the inside of the berries becomes pepper. I knew it as soon as I could smell it. I'm just surprised the game didn't make me sneeze from smelling it..."

Asuna's eyes almost seemed to sparkle in response to the luck of what he managed to discover. Kirito was really the expert on item knowledge. He didn't let a single ingredient class item stay as it was without testing and mixing its abilities to see other effects they had.

"Ooooh, this stew just got so much better from a little pepper. Do you have some more? I think I had all of my drops being funnelled to your inventory because I don't have much more than my equipment and the healing items left from the boss battle and items Leafa and Sinon left for me to cook with..."

Kirito took another look through his inventory, and it was indeed a little overflowing compared to how it normally would have been.

"Ah, I'll change that right away so you get your drops properly. Although...it might be nice to have some separate storage to keep everything organized."

Asuna nodded her head in agreement.

"That's exactly...gosh, why are you a boy!"

It wasn't even worded like a question the way she said it. She must have felt awkward getting so excited about organizing and ingredients and cooking with a boy she'd only known for two days.

"Oh right, Leafa and Sinon noticed that a player opened up a temporary smithing location in the new town here on the second floor. They said it would be good for us to go see them tomorrow morning. You do know it's been a full day since the boss battle right?"

Kirito nodded his head. He couldn't believe how tired he was when he barely managed to activate the counter skill on the boss' ultimate skill.

"Oh right, how are others doing for levelling right now?"

"Aside the raid team who came up to this floor with us, other players are mostly nervous of coming up to this floor. Crafters have been paying stronger groups who have come up here to get help gathering items. If a player brings the materials needed for an upgrade, apparently it's just a small money charge for an upgrade, and about the cost of a normal piece of equipment if you have something made."

"Maybe I'll see about having this full stack of kobold iron from their gear turned into new equipment for all of us..."

Asuna seemed pleased with the sound of that.

"Anyway, the stew should be ready now."

She pulled open her menu and scrolled over to the contact screen. She pressed the option to alert Sinon and Leafa before closing it back up and removing the pot of stew from the stove.

"This...it's fun, but not as fun as really cooking."

Kazuto nodded his head. It was exactly as he thought it would be like.

"Ah, I might have enough time to make us something else for the meal. Stew alone might be a little boring."

Asuna watched on as Kirito summoned and cleaned a few different types of monster meat including kobold, boar and the bull cow from the butter quest. Those different meats were cleaned, seasoned with the pepper drop and a salt item he discovered while practising mining and had them sear in the oven before having Asuna separate a decent amount of broth from the stew before frying it the rest of the way through. Leafa and Sinon just arrived as he finished plating the steaks of different meat from the monsters with the stew Asuna had finished.

"I thought Asuna was only making a stew?"

Asuna gave Kirito a questioning look and then back at the table before she sat down.

"Kirito made the steaks in the time since I sent you the alert telling you the stew was done. He really knows how to use the cooking skill in this game."

"Uh, Asuna? Kirito hasn't had a kitchen yet."

Leafa and Sinon were surprised that Asuna was surprised by anything about Kirito at this point. He just kept on discovering things and being himself that he was mastering everything the game was throwing at him to learn.

"Kirito is...Is he a chef in real life? That was way too fast for someone who doesn't cook all the time."

Sinon and Leafa shook their heads and laughed before urging them to sit down before everyone would start eating. They knew already not to be surprised by how much Kirito loved cooking. If anything, that made him closer to his mother than anything. Sinon in particular wondered how his mother would react to such a fancy steak being cooked up so expertly in minutes.

"Ooh! There's pepper in this! What item was it?!"

Kirito spoke up as usual.

"The berry item drop from the kobolds. Remember how it was annoying that they were a rare drop that was just adding another space to the inventory? Powder them and it becomes pepper. Really useful right?"

Kirito was thrilled at how useful it was. How much the scent satisfied his nose inside the virtual engine. He grabbed up the cutlery that he had set with the rest of the meal as he finished cleaning up before Leafa and Sinon arrived.

"Let's begin eating. Thanks for the food."

After he said it, everyone dug right in. The taste that flowed through their mouths from the stew first was surprising to them. Sinon and Leafa were most surprised because they didn't think the pepper was in it, but Asuna couldn't help herself when she took a bite of the softened meat along with a remaining mouthful of the broth. The juicy and tender texture broke down in such a satisfying way, it was like really eating food. Everyone wondered how much work was put into creating all of the virtual copies of sensations. The creators must have had a lot of professional testers before the beta test launch. To make sure everything worked just right.

In between spoonfuls of the stew, everyone finally took their first bite into the steaks. Kirito felt a little underwhelmed because he expected a little more, but then he couldn't expect everything from a game's engine to copy real sensations. The meat was just tender enough that the knives went right through without having to slice through the meat in strokes. It was perfectly seasoned, and the taste made sure to touch every small bit of the mouth's sensory between the juice and the grainy meat texture. It was phenomenal. Kirito's underwhelmed reaction didn't stop the rest from enjoying it.

"This steak is so much better than my cooking teacher's steaks! Where did you learn to cook such an excellent steak with such simple ingredients?"

Asuna was thrilled and excited to learn the secret. Kirito's answer was as underwhelming as he felt it was for him.

"It's the way the seasoning is cooked into the meat. Remember how I didn't tenderize the seasoning into the meat? For this kind of method, you first sear the steak until it's just barely cooked on the outside, and the pores of the meat have opened up for the seasoning to flow through, that's when I used your broth to tenderize the rest of the way and then did final seasoning before doing the final touch in the oven. It's a sear boil broil method Mom taught me. It's nowhere near as good as the real thing though."

Hearing Kirito explain it, Sinon could recall how heavenly his mother's signature steaks tasted. She had to agree. In comparison, the steak they just ate wasn't nearly as satisfying. She wondered how Kirito was taking it, the memory of her still having him pursue her greatness. The game would separate their abilities for the time being.

"Well, I know I can do it the same when we get out of the game. Why not have a dinner party when we get out and I make the same steak so Asuna can taste what it's really supposed to be like?"

The girls were all in agreement that if it was for food, such great food, then it was definitely worth meeting again outside of the game. Kirito was happy just being with him. He already knew some others were thinking something opposite, but he really wanted to get out. To taste real food. To really feel the touch of his friends' hands and to see a world which he wasn't separated from by pixels.

"You know how there are some players who've been saying they don't want the game to end? Isn't that ridiculous? We have real lives outside of the game. Some of us want to do something important with our lives and help people, but while we're stuck in here, we can't do those things."

"You know, those people who wish the game wouldn't end might be the kind of people who can't find something like that. All of us have our reasons to go back, but what if someone is a gamer alone? If they don't have any talents or something they are deprived from they had in reality? Some people don't have family to return to, and this is a world where families can be registered. It's a little strange I admit, but there's the adoption system, the marriage system and other things to simulate living a fantasy life of dreams. The only thing for those kind of people is to avoid the powerful monsters which can end that time."

Kirito was being the melancholic type through the rest of the meal. He didn't even finish the food when he left the table. The girls all felt a little guilty about something they were feeling. Kirito wanted to get out of the game for many reasons. From Leafa's perspective, that was the happiest news about him in real life that she'd heard since before he moved in with her family. For Sinon, it was a little hit to her, but she also had reason to get back. She wanted to apologize to Shiro, and to see her parents again. She wanted to have a real chance at a real relationship with Kazuto. Asuna wanted to get out of the game too. Though she wasn't vocal about her reasons, she already admitted to wanting real food. She also wanted to experience life with real friends instead of the forced relationships of her life. She wanted to bring the strength her new friends were giving her and make her life outside of the game her own.

While the girls brewed over their thoughts and reasons to return to reality, another person in the inn restaurant sat down in Kirito's spot and started eating the food. It wasn't Argo who it wouldn't have been strange to see do such a thing, but someone none of the girls recognized.

"Uhm...hello? Why are you eating our friend's food?"

The woman who slurped up a gulp of the stew sighed in satisfaction before turning her confident gaze over them. She was tall, long legged more than anything for her height. She had the kind of build that she seemed likely to use for luring male perverts to do things for her. Wicked things. She had wavy hair like a model for it in a blood red colour and it was obvious she wore make-up before diving in.

"Beta crowd right? This would be your leader's food? She just left though with an expression as if she wasn't coming back down to finish. There's no need for the washroom after all."

"Kirito-"

"Said she was done for the night, you're right. It's very rude to just sit down and start eating food that hasn't been offered to you though. Care to explain to your reason for disturbing our meal?"

She took a bite of the steak, and picked her teeth clean with one of the prongs of the fork. Not that there was anything to clean out. It might just be a habit of hers from the real world. She sat back in the chair, crossed her legs and eyed up the other girls at the table. In comparison, she would be around her mid twenties. The rest of the girls were in their teenage years.

"I'm luring you girls out. Not for a fight or anything troublesome like that. The leader of yours has a lot of people after her and it would be best to keep your distance for your own safety. A group of people who join games like this for fighting other players has already been started. I can guarantee they wouldn't mind killing you along with that leader of yours."

Sinon stood up and positioned herself behind the woman who was setting a very bad mood for the meal. She pulled her dagger from the sheath and touched it to her avatar's opposite hand's finger.

"It's not an issue inside of safe areas. Kirito already explained all of the information and guides for this game anyway. She told us about how easy it is to track people, and how much easier it becomes when they have an orange marker. You know what the marker colours mean right? Green means they are passive and friendly, they haven't done anything wrong and aren't a monster trying to kill you. A red marker is a monster or other player currently fighting you. An orange marker...those belong to hostile monsters which aren't currently in battle, and players who have committed crime. Who have murdered, stolen or harmed another player without using the rules of registered duels accepted by both parties. Now...care to explain your marker colour to us? This world has only been launched for a few days. Are you the type who steals in other games? Kills people for fun? Need a reminder? What this world is? What happens when you do things that are morally looked down on by society and brands people criminal? Leave us be, or we'll have you locked in the prison in the Town of Beginnings so you can live your days in boredom until we clear the game. Be thankful of this generosity. You or your group of murderers you mentioned comes after us, remember that retaliation against someone with a red marker doesn't give a person an orange marker. If we have to protect ourselves, don't be surprised that our blades might end your lives forever."

The woman seemed to still be enjoying the atmosphere despite how frightening Sinon's tone was. If it were Kirito telling the criminal player his opinion on what she said, it was likely she would be locked up. Used to gather the rest of the criminals she was connected to and lock them up in the jail in the Town of Beginnings.

"Maybe I will join the murderers. Still don't have a guild I'm in. Was just suggesting to you nicely that it would be smart to go to other groups. You only have yourselves to blame when you find yourselves surrounded by a bunch of blood thirsty murderers. This is still a game to them no matter how much you sprinkle positivity over the situation and say how we're supposed to be working our way out of the game together. Those murderers-they don't want the game to be won. They want to have fun killing everyone here. You'll see what I mean. Eventually, you'll lose your minds with how many disgusting people managed to get into this game. You'll see in time what my play style is..."

She took one last bite of the steak and sighed in satisfaction before standing up, poking Sinon with a fork triggering the harassment policy notification, and walking out of the inn. When the door closed and she was no longer in the area, the notification went away.

"We need to tell Kirito about her and those freaks right away."

The rest of the food couldn't be put into their inventories, so they ate as much as they could before throwing the remainder into the bottomless trash bin and headed up the stairs to the shared bedroom.

"Kirito, we're coming in~"

Leafa was the one who let out the words of their arrival, but without knocking or time to give him a chance to make his state more acceptable, she opened the door to thankfully him being covered where it was important by his hair. Asuna shoved Leafa into the room and closed the door while trying to be as quiet from screaming as possible.

Leafa had a number of questions for Kirito, but her eyes wandered and she realized just how much his figure was feminine. Thankfully his boyhood was covered, but his chest had grown a little, possibly from all the training he had pectoral muscles, and his waist was incredibly thin. His hips were...well, at least they couldn't be referenced by a parent looking for many children to be perfect for child bearing. She couldn't believe that kind of situation came to her mind, but after staring for a while, she finally felt the shame running through her and she turned around. His figure stayed in her mind and she couldn't help but feel her heart beating so heavily it might knock the wind out of her.

"It's okay, I'm finished changing."

Kirito had changed to have the cloak reward from the first boss as his only torso gear aside a chest plate which only enhanced the feminine appearance of his figure, and light metal gauntlets. He looked ready to take on a fearsome foe. His hair wasn't hidden by the cloak anymore, and it seemed he might be happy that he wasn't hiding it. His expression was happy despite having been barged in on.

"You two can come in as well. I'm done changing."

Asuna made Sinon took the first peek in, but she just opened the door completely. She knew Kirito wouldn't lie about something like that.

"I...I'm sorry I over reacted like that. After all, Kirito has such a feminine figure it shouldn't have bothered me."

Asuna was still flustered over it.

"I'm pretty embarrassed too you know! I'm not proud of how little my body has filled in as a boy."

Leafa had her own opinion about filling in.

"Then what about your breasts? You almost have as much as Sinon. Or is that really how boy pectoral muscles work?"

"Leafa!"

Asuna didn't want to hear it.

"If he has breasts, then we might as well really call him a girl from now on... I can't believe I said that about Onii-chan..."

Sinon was more curious now and had the urge to have Leafa and Asuna leave while she would check. She used to see him down to his underwear a lot of the time when they used to switch clothes with each other. It wouldn't be that strange...although they had grown up some.

When the girls' attention returned to him, the expression that said he was fine with being walked in on was gone, and tears seemed ready to pour.

"Wh-why are you sad right now Kirito?"

Sinon sat beside him on the bed where he had been assigned and wrapped her arm around his waist. To her, it seemed a little smaller than she was used to, or maybe it was that her arm was longer...

"I...can't. I can't get used to this feeling at all..."

The girls looked at each other in confusion before getting closer as if he were about to go even more quiet.

"I missed it during calibration, so my settings are as a girl. I've been growing since the first day. Darn it...this game made me a girl for real. Sugu, Shino, please remember I'm really a boy outside of this!"

They were all confused.

"You...the game...what?"

Sinon whispered closely so that he might say it a little more easy to understand.

"The breasts. Are **real**. My boyhood. Is **gone**. I hope it's just an error and the game will fix it over time, but whenever I go into settings, where it says calibrated gender, there it says female. Why...just...why?"

Sinon's expression dropped. Leafa's as well. The boy they were in love with was calibrated by the game as a girl. Asuna didn't seem to have any problem with it. She did try to understand at least that it would feel strange and unfamiliar for someone to spend a length of time as if the other gender. Distressing even. She couldn't understand why it brought Kirito to tears though.

Eventually, he cried himself to sleep and Leafa tucked him in to the bed like she was used to in real life. Sinon and her watched him sleep for a while before going to their own beds. Asuna found herself doing some more soul searching about what her friends really meant to her.


	14. Chapter 14

Kirito left early the next morning to do some of his own exploring of the second floor while the rest of the party were still sleeping in the room. The effect the system was given for that morning was foggy. It was a rolling hills with forest kind of setting. There were a lot of places for monsters to spawn. It was great to solo with his stronger gear. He fine tuned his gear before the girls spotted him in the room the night before. His armour was more meant for his current level and his new one hand sword was heavy in the right way, much stronger than his previous sword.

He wandered the fields and patches of forest, slaying any new monsters and checking their drop items and the rate for each item to drop before moving on to another spot. After about an hour of early morning exploring, he found he had wandered to the entrance of the floor's dungeon. It was different from the beta. The dungeon and landscape though they were similar, were different enough that looking for the dungeon was usually a thing. Because the dungeon was made to camouflage until it was close, it was sometimes a bit of a pain to look for. Especially with the foggy condition that was currently happening.

Kirito was about to turn around and head back to the town before a voice called to him from the entrance of the dungeon.

"Hey, black haired swordswoman right? Leader of the strongest group?"

He turned and faced the person who was calling him out. The voice was that of another obnoxious person. An older woman, maybe around ten years separating him from her. He was able to tell from the tone of her voice that she was there to cause some trouble.

"I am. I'm sure I don't need to introduce myself properly then?"

"Oh, you really are a confident young lady. How about...we have a duel?"

The woman from the night before who Kirito hadn't yet met stepped just enough in sight to make out the blood red hair and pale white of her exaggerated expression. She wore clothes which could be expected of someone aiming to not be detected.

"I'm pretty sure the rules for a duel is one on one."

Kirito pointed out that his detection skill was pointing out much more than the one person who was challenging him.

"Well, I'm game. Let's see how serious you are."

He had the reassurance of the regeneration speed enhancement of his new armour that he would be able to handle at least the damage from a few players even using skills. The defence of the gear paired with the regeneration left him nearly untouchable by the regular floor monsters. Another player would only have basic strength. Strength he could react to and turn against them.

The group of other players charged in from their hiding places in the forest clumps nearby and activated skills to cut through him as they approached. When the first barrage ended, he had all the information he needed.

"About 2000 damage in a full power assault, my regeneration speed is currently 1200 hit points per second. At the rate you all attack, you wouldn't be able to keep up with my auto regeneration from my gear. Now, jail time? Or do you want to get out of the game now?"

Kirito was confident he could handle the situation, but he wasn't a violent enough person to kill anyone. He would likely wound them and then heal them before sending them off to jail.

"Seriously, are you going to keep coming after me, or do I need to prove to you how serious I am?"

Those who were involved in the attacking lunged forward again. He didn't have the chance to hear it directly from them the night before, but he knew that a murder group were planning to go after him. The intention of leaving the inn room on his own early in the morning was to lure them out and stop them from bothering the rest of the group any further.

He pulled a readied teleport crystal for the prison and activated it to surround him and send anyone who got close to the floors of a cell they wouldn't make it out of any time soon.

"Well? You're their leader, right? Might as well join your friends in prison."

She stared at Kirito in horror.

"No...no way. That little girl was so full of herself, but you...you're a monster! How do you already have gear like that?!"

Kirito started to explain how he obtained what made him untouchable by other players at the moment. He spoke in a tone that was carefree and a little more childish than he was used to for the game.

"You see, there's this nice cloak which I got as the last hit bonus drop from the boss of the first floor. It has a few perks like additional regeneration speed and much more defence than I had before. Add to that my combining perk to give the regeneration perk to my armour, and everything I'm wearing adds to my regeneration. It's all very nice and light, easy to move in. It raises my defence to the current highest in the game along with the highest hit points in the game as of right now. Regeneration perk along with those kind of bonuses...what level did you think I was?"

She muttered a number that she thought, but it was lower than his level.

"Uh...er...twenty?"

"Oh, no...how disappointing. You thought I was a stupid blitzer like the beta test stories? No. My current level is thirty. Even with the rest of the raid team training all day yesterday, nobody but someone from my team might have caught up to my level. Levels are useful when you're doing a no death run of a game. Ever tried one of those in the older games which throw everything at you to try and kill you? Yeah, this game and those are the same. It's trying to kill you, but this time, you can't restart and refresh. You can't have another chance. There's no life to return to outside by dying here. That's why I'm being careful, see? Why don't I show you how useful my new gear is?"

Outside of a safe area, the harassment policy wouldn't activate when he dragged her into the dungeon by the wrist, finally deactivating the teleport stone and putting it back in his pocket. He readied his sword and walked through the dungeon as if he were playing with the level one creatures which infinitely spawned outside the town of beginnings. A single horizontal slash or vertical slash skill was all it took for his new sword to cut the enemies of the second floor dungeon down.

"I got a good gauge the other day when we fought the first floor boss. The difference in strength is actually quite massive compared to the beta, but then, I never got the gear that I have right now during the beta, nothing so nice and protective. I didn't need to be careful then. This armour, and this sword, are all much stronger than what I used to cut down bosses before. Now, I know the mechanics enough that I don't need to have a partner back me up. This will of course change when floors ten, twenty, twenty five and so on come along. Then will require a raid party to handle. An ultimate skill is so extremely powerful you know?"

In minutes, they stood in front of the boss room door. He pushed it open and dragged her in before tossing her to the floor and applying a paralysis ingredient to her so she wouldn't get in the way. The door closed behind them to lock people from joining the fight and he began. The giant boulder monster, a golem was definitely intimidating, but he had a good blunt skill to knock it down quickly. The ultimate skill wouldn't work on a golem type monster.

He used sonic leap to close the distance, cancelled it just before the strike, hopped back out of a stunning strike from the golem, leapt back in and used the blow back blunt skill of his one hand sword. The golem fell to its back, exposing its weak point. A core which shattered would instantly render it dead. Kirito found that out originally on the tenth try at it during the beta. Now, he finished the second floor boss in less than a minute. When the victory sound of the floor boss being destroyed sounded through the room, and the final attack bonus item appeared in his inventory, he checked, smiled, and turned back to check on the leader of killers he dragged in to show just what she was threatening.

"Oh, you never developed any resistances to your parameters...guess you'll be paralysed in the cell for a while. Do tell anyone who asks for info on me just how pointless it is. I have a teleport gate to unlock."

He pulled the teleport stone out of his pocket yet again, and used it to send her to the prison on floor one.

He climbed the stairs to the entrance of the floor three main town and the boss room door locked behind him. It was a short walk of browsing what kind of npc shops and stalls there were before he arrived in the teleport gate plaza. Almost a few seconds after he activated the teleport gate, it was being used.

Leafa Sinon and Asuna appeared as the first to find out that he fought and destroyed the second floor boss alone. He told them to keep it to themselves and he brought someone with him, but they knew the truth after he explained a very good reason for criminal players to be terrified of him. He alone sent a group of murder players to prison and killed a floor boss in less than two hours.


	15. Chapter 15

The main town of the third floor was buzzing with rumours and speculation about how the dungeon was conquered so quickly, and that no raid party had been formed to take it on. They also spoke of one group of orange marker players being sent to prison.

It didn't take long for all of the rumours to spread, and for people to gather. Anyone with an interest for fighting their own way out of the game were checking out the third floor for new equipment, and how much they would have to work grinding against basic monsters to earn it.

Those in the craft of leather and metal armours, of wooden and metal weapons, and of alchemy all journeyed up to the third floor and set up their stalls. Like Kirito's group had agreed, they started checking out the player vendors who seemed to be quite popular...but were they good?

One particular street near the teleport gate was filled with those of the smithing trade. Those who sharpened and reinforced weapons and armour, those who crafted gear from scratch, and those who would go with adventuring groups to gather the more rare materials which required the hand of the crafter to gather.

One particular smith had a few customers lined up, waiting for the result of apparently a sword she was going to create. Apparently their hopes were too high while everyone was still in the lower floors, because when the item formed, the sword was just a little lacking in extra parameters. Kirito felt sorry for her and walked over after the customers trudged off to another smith.

"Sorry...maybe I should just close up for today and go gather some more materials...levels really do make the difference in craft quality..."

Kirito noticed that she seemed very nervous for being someone who would deal directly with their customers. A girl around his height with slightly messy dark brown hair reaching just past her shoulders and freckles adorning her face. She was still wearing beginner level gear which definitely didn't suit her. Apparently him and Asuna had the same idea.

After a few seconds, the smith was shocked to have two trade screens pop up in front of her.

"We have a lot of materials, so we'd like to help you out with your gear level and your crafting level. Why not work together for today?"

Kirito offered her armour pieces he had collected as dungeon gear drops which had crafting bonus effects, while Asuna gave her clothing gear which offered dexterity and strength bonuses so that she could craft higher level items without as much effort and relying on luck with the rng.

"You-no way! Why are you offering such valuable stuff to me?!"

Kirito repeated himself.

"We have a lot of materials, and we would like you to help us upgrade our gear. We'll help you out, so you help us. You will need at least this much to work on our gear to start. Maybe you can make us something better after we get you up a few levels?"

She immediately teared up when she realized he meant it. They would work together.

"Th-thank...thank you so much...! Everyone has been nervous about approaching you because dungeon drop gear is so good, I'm honoured the lead group is relying on me for their gear. Let me introduce myself, I'm Lisbeth. I know all of your names because of how well known you all are..."

She leaned in close toward Kirito and whispered.

"I won't tell anyone about how you defeated the second floor boss alone."

He sighed. If she knew, who knew how many others did. He only told Sinon Leafa and Asuna about it. Maybe people were hearing the truth from the killer group he put in jail. It was strange anyone would believe them, but maybe the word got around that much.

"Alright then..."

Lisbeth changed her gear and in a short few moments, she was just about to check with a random material from her inventory when Kirito stopped her.

"Sorry, I should have shown this to you before this..."

He opened another trade screen with a stronger crafting hammer for her to equip. It was the last attack bonus item he received from the golem floor boss. If he wasn't going to craft his gear, then at least she should get the spoils he would otherwise hold onto or sell later when his inventory would fill too much. He then readied the armour pieces he wore and put them on the crafting table.

"Let me know what I need for upgrading these please."

If he had invested much time at all into the smithing skill, he would have been able to tell that much on his own, but it was also giving her confidence that she could handle what he was tasking her with. When he saw the kind confidence in her eyes, he smiled.

"I have everything for the upgrades except...this one, the kobold steel material."

Kirito pulled all of the kobold iron and steel from his inventory, all of the kobold metal and traded those over to her.

"A full-how did you get this much?!"

"You do know we were in the dungeon for 14 hours the other day, right? I'm sure the others also have pretty full inventory."

After shaking her head in surprise, she started working. Success after success until she reached the chest armour piece which required the kobold steel the little bit of material she used disappeared and the armour thankfully was okay.

"That's alright. Everything else was able to upgrade a couple of times so it's excellent. Now for upgrading that we'll just have to get your level up and find you some even better gear when we take you into the new floor's dungeon. Before we go though, please work on everyone else' gear."

Lisbeth had a disappointed expression before he reassured her it was only because she needed to level up a bit. The chest armour was nearly as powerful as the cloak he used as his cloth gear underneath the metal armour.

Her crafting level went up quite a lot while working on everyone else' gear. Before they were ready to go to the dungeon, it seemed quite a crowd had gathered because of Kirito's party giving her so much attention. She continued to work on sharpening and enhancing gear until materials ran out, she made a lot of progress on her crafting level through all of the business. Apparently none of the other smiths were nearly as successful after all. Especially after she had such a large upgrade to her gear and crafting level.

After about two hours of enhancing and sharpening gear and other business she had, they headed out. To get her more material stock back and to also increase her base level. That was slightly more impacting on success rate apparently than crafting level until further crafting skills would be unlocked.

Lisbeth was added to the active party they had going and they left to explore the floor a bit. The dungeon was rather close to the town this time so it didn't take long to start exploring it and working on her level progress. In a short amount of time, she went from level fourteen to level twenty two. The monsters were very good for levelling up lower level players. It was incredible how fast they were still gaining levels, and Kirito was already to level thirty five by the time the group took a break. They found a safe area in the dungeon and took a look through their inventories.

"And Leafa has this much...wow. Amazing...we gathered so many materials and I must be the highest level smith right now. I could practically join the raid party as far as level. I also noticed while checking my stats before Kirito...this hammer is a last hit bonus item from a floor boss...it can sell for so much but you just gave it to me. Is that okay?"

Kirito's attention was pulled from analyzing the new ingredient type items and he gave her a confused expression.

"You're still asking that kind of question? We're relying on your abilities as a smith, the gear we give you helps you enhance what the rest of us use to fight the enemies which would kill us if our gear wasn't strong enough. I'm very good at avoiding getting hit and taking damage, but soon there will be enemies I don't know attack patterns for and I will take damage. At that time, I'll be relying on the gear Lisbeth makes and strengthens for me. We're trusting Lisbeth with our lives, so we should offer you the best gear we have that will help. That's why I gave Lisbeth the hammer. Because it is the strongest item in your current gear set now for crafting and enhancing. Soon, that won't be as powerful and valuable and I'll see if I can provide you a better hammer then. No more second guessing us providing you gear and materials okay? You help us more than any basic dungeon gear. You make it better."

Lisbeth was flushed completely red before he finished talking.

"Kirito is such a sweet talker...if you were a boy I might be in love..."

It seemed that didn't matter at the moment, and Leafa and Sinon were in no mood to reveal it. It were as if Lisbeth would be okay with Kirito even if he was a girl. Asuna was also checking through ingredient type items after realizing how useful they could be after Kirito's discovery of pepper. She wasn't really paying attention to the conversion.

"Anyway, we can save checking more items for when we get back to town. Want to check the boss room if we can before heading back? See if it'll be too much for us?"

Hearing Kirito say that, the rest of the group just gave him a stare as if he was mocking them. They knew that until the difficulty jump on floor ten like previously mentioned, they would likely be fine if Kirito took the lead. Especially after he defeated the second floor boss alone.

"Kirito just wants to see what the new last hit bonus item will be and see who will need it most though."

Sinon finished saying those words, staring at him as if ready for him to agree and lead them to the boss room. When he nodded his head and turned around, everyone else in the group sighed. It would be a long day, and Kirito was such a typical gamer.


	16. Chapter 16

"Kirito! It's winding up for an unfamiliar move!"

Kirito already knew that it was the new ultimate move for the goblin chief boss of the third floor. He took the usual stance, readying himself to counter. The boss' health was only a little away from running out, and it would be defeated by its own ultimate attack. When it finished readying the club in its hands and threw itself with the club toward him, Kirito dodged just as the prompt came and unleashed the counter skill, depleting the last of the health in the final strike. A slash from the back of the head to the right hip. The giant goblin chief shattered into pixels and the victory music played.

"Kirito really is too powerful and knowledgeable about these lower floor bosses...he might clear up to floor ten by the end of next week."

The last hit bonus item dropped and the screen showed in front of Kirito what it was.

"Ah, something for Asuna. A rapier with high speed, strength and dexterity stats. It's a great drop!"

He opened the trading screen with her and sent it over. The new weapon equipped at her hip, she drew it to check just how impressive it was. When she unleashed her currently fastest skill in half the time she was able to use it before, everyone's jaw dropped.

"We should check if you can defeat a dungeon monster in one use of that skill! It would be a super fast way of levelling!"

Kirito was thrilled at anything that would improve the group's overall chance of getting through the game. Asuna was steadily improving and maybe it was because she was getting more used to the skill system along with the consistency with how she handled a rapier in real life.

For Kirito and Leafa, the one hand swords were quite different from a kendo sword and the skills were also different and made it awkward when practising kendo swings and strikes as their regular attacks on weaker enemies.

"This skill wasn't there before the boss..."

Sinon was confused about a skill. Kirito walked over to her but he remembered they were still in the boss room.

"Let's all take this up to the next floor and check everything else at an inn. I'm sure everyone else would be pleased to hear we're progressing up Aincrad so fast."

When they finished activating the teleport gate, they went to a nearby inn and Sinon had them all listen to the name of a new skill tree which showed up in her menu.

"Shooting skill...but...there's no guns in this game since it's fantasy like, and there wasn't anything like bows in beta. Maybe there's more skills for throwing type items?"

Kirito was puzzled, but since he had a bit of time invested in wood crafting skill and plenty of wooden weapon type materials from the goblin dungeon, he took them outside and tried checking if a bow was a wood crafting option.

"...bow. It's there. Just a second..."

Sinon was shocked stiff. If she could use a bow in the game...then she could fight in the way she was most comfortable before. With the rest of the group keeping enemy attention, she could safely fire a bow from a distance.

"There's nothing for arrows, but I got a bow with decent stats from a basic craft. Try it Sinon."

He handed it over to her, and when she held the bow, a quiver showed up at her waist with some arrows in it. Maybe they would replenish as she fired them?

"I thought this was supposed to be a melee only type of fighting game..."

Kirito was puzzled. Everyone else but Sinon was puzzled and curious why the skill showed up for her.

"Oh...! There was something in the beta manual! Rare skills can be obtained through different kinds of play style. Maybe since Sinon often fell back and observed to learn enemy attack patterns she developed a long range skill. Maybe I could develop that too...it would be nice to hold a bow again."

Sinon smiled when he mentioned holding a bow again. Leafa was also happy to hear him talk fondly of something he enjoyed before.

"It's disappointing that kind of thing isn't in the smithing skills. It would be interesting to see a modern super-flex bow in the game."

Lisbeth had her mind on something more suited to the profession she was working on. Kirito was very interested in using a bow, and if nothing would continue to drop from the floors for the shooting skill Sinon had and he would aim to have, then it would be worth it to invest more time into the wood crafting skill.

"I'll work on crafting and enhancing bows for a while if the rest of you want to practice against the new floor...if it's the same as last time, there should be some treant enemies to gather some more wood items. That would help the crafting of wood items for me for now...crafting weapon type would be...basic level is carving knife so not an actual weapon type obtainable through chests... Can you craft a carving knife for me and a...saw?"

When checking the required gear for the best possible wood crafting, those were the names that showed up. Kirito was confused there was also plenty of leather armours with perks for crafting, so he might work on that as well. He was really becoming a crafter...it felt a little disappointing compared to how it was when he was usually playing the game. He could power level and handle everything with basic skill. There were things which were more valuable and worth the investing time this time around. He might run floors again like he had in the morning, but he wouldn't do it as often anymore. He might have been lucky with the first bow because of his base level being so high. He was already level thirty five, and the floor clearing had reached floor four, so it was a high level for him to be at already.

Lisbeth went with his suggestion, and Kirito was given over a rather strong saw and carving knife for working on his wood crafting skill. He just about started working on grinding his crafting level up, then apparently he hadn't realized where he had set himself up. Apparently had was operating in a good place for setting up as a vendor.

"Could you craft me a strong pole item for the craft of an axe?"

After that person, he was immediately addressed by another person. That continued to go until the girls decided it would be better to go and gather him some materials before he would run out with the customers he was building up.

"Could...could you craft me a taming flute?"

A young boy who seemed much younger than the minimum age for using NerveGear asked Kirito that question. When he noticed a quest marker appear above the boy's head, Kirito nodded his head, opened the crafting menu again and the taming flute item showed up at the bottom as a new craft possibility. Kirito smiled and wondered if it would be possible to tame pets with the use of the item.

After successfully crafting the flute, the quest didn't seem to finish even after passing it over the the npc boy.

"Are you going out to tame in a dangerous area?"

There currently weren't anymore customers lining up for him, so it was an okay opportunity to do the full quest.

The little boy npc nodded his head and looked at Kirito with an expression as if waiting for anything else.

"I'd like to go and do a little training and gathering, so it'll be good to go with you. It'll be safer for you, right?"

The npc nodded his head, turned around and slowly led Kirito out of the new town on the fourth floor. As he remembered, most of the fourth floor was a massive forest. When he tried to remember, the floor boss was a giant treant and it had hornet minions which spawned. It was a floor that would require a bigger party than usual. The real focus currently was the quest with the young npc.

The young boy led Kirito immediately into the forested area. It seemed he had a specific goal. After Kirito dispatched a few dozen weaker treant along the way, they finally arrived at a clearing where a treant as large as the floor boss had been before stood in the centre in front of a few ground nests of some different kinds of birds he hadn't seen before. When he saw them, he was instantly reminded of a cute bird character in a manga he had read a while back. He honestly felt like taming one of the birds as well.

"Let me take care of the big monster first, okay? Then we'll go help you tame your new friend."

After Kirito said that, the little boy nodded his head and smiled. It felt a lot...more than a typical npc smile. Maybe it was because most npcs he saw were adults, but it was...adorable. It was getting at his feminine side.

After ensuring the npc wouldn't enter the battling arena, Kirito started the fight by quickly building a run, dashing in with sonic leap for the bonus damage, hopped back out of a stunning strike like the pattern with the golem, dashed back in with a regular power sonic strike, and continued to unleash regular strikes which reminded him a lot that his kendo technique wasn't likely to survive the time in the game. He felt like changing up how he was fighting the monster, but at that moment, a new attack he didn't recognize was coming from the treant.

Just barely on time, Kirito managed to use the parrying skill and regain all of his skill points so he could finish the battle with his one hand sword ultimate skill. While the skill ended the fight and defeated the treant, it didn't feel fulfilling. He was reminded during the fight that he was falling away from his kendo. At least earlier he felt hopeful that he might eventually be able to keep up with his archery in the game, but even that might not help keep him in his habits.

"It-it's okay, we should be fine for you to tame your new friend."

Kirito nearly forgot that he had that temptation. To tame one for himself. He sat down and opened up his crafting menu. After a moment, he managed to craft another taming flute. Before he even had the chance to use it, when the flute was finished, three of the bird creatures stood on the crafting table. They looked at the flute, and then all turned up to Kirito and kept on chirping. They were a special type of bird. They had very round heads, small bodies and massive wings which folded over their body made them look larger. However, when they did have their wings folded over like that, they also looked adorable. Like featherballs. He smiled at them, and they all hopped on his lap, chirping at him and hopping around, having fun there. Kirito couldn't help but laugh.

"Did you tame your friend?"

The npc boy had one of the birds sitting on his shoulder snuggling against his neck. There was a continue marker over his head for the quest, so it must be time to bring him back to the town to finish the quest.

Before that...Kirito softly reached over the birds which gathered on his lap and picked up the flute, blowing softly into the reed and unfortunately it scared off the birds on his lap. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. He had hope though since the flute was unlimited use. If the end of the quest didn't limit the crafting of more, then he would be able to help other people go out and find creatures to tame.

He was reminded that he didn't know much if anything about the taming system in the game and while escorting the boy back to town, in safe areas where monsters weren't spawning, he read up on it. Apparently monsters which were fought couldn't be tamed unless they were...it was a dismal kind of experience so that was out of the question. Other types of creatures which could be tamed were passive creatures which could even show up in safe zones. Such creatures ranged from small rodents, to birds, to puppies and kittens, baby forms of monsters and even the ultimate rare type, a feathery dragon type. Even the taming system had its rarity level, so he was becoming more interested.

Pets could help their tamers in battle with small enhancements to defence, attack, speed, anything that would effect the stats during battle. They could only focus on a certain type of buff however. There was even a type of action for the feathery dragon monster which allowed it to heal its tamer. That seemed to be the most valuable skill for pets, especially with this being made into a death game.

A scream sounded from deep down another path through the forest. The scream was shouting to warn off some beasts which...didn't seem to belong in a forest with treant and mushroom type monsters. They were short minotaur beasts which normally wouldn't show up at least until floor 10 previously in beta.

"Feel like helping someone out today?"

The npc child nodded his head, almost a bright excitedness in his eyes, and he followed Kirito to the source of the scream. When they arrived, it was barely in time that Kirito was able to chain use of his sonic leap skill. He managed to cut down all of the minotaur monsters surrounding a girl who seemed to be somewhere between his age and that of the npc. She turned her gaze up from the ground with a tearful expression on her face and saw Kirito standing there.

"Ah!"

She looked back down as if something even more frightening than the minotaur had appeared.

"Are you running away from someone?"

She heard his feminine voice and turned to look up at him again, and she managed to calm down.

"There were...scary guys following me in town, so I ran to this forest because apparently it isn't hard to fight here and...and...those things showed up and surrounded me. Did you just beat all of them right now? So fast?"

She ended up stuttering her words. It was cute and reminded him of when Shino was getting used to some harder words when they were really young. He couldn't help but smile.

"I'm Kirito, also known as the _black haired swordswoman_ of the lead groups. Glad to be of help. Was there something else you were doing in town? Did you want me to go back with you and teach those scary guys a lesson?"

She finally noticed the npc boy waiting for them behind Kirito and asked if Kirito was on a quest he needed to do.

"Ah right, this quest was to help the npc character by crafting them a taming flute and guide them through the forest to a dangerous mid-level boss monster guarding a small bird nest area. After the boss is defeated, the npc can tame a bird and then the quest returns to town, so we heard you on the way back."

The little bird chirped as if to respond to mention of it and laughed along with the npc child with the sound of its chirping.

"Let's go back together."

The young player grabbed Kirito's hand and blushed a little.

"I'm...still really low level. Thank you Kirito-san. Please help me get back to town safely."

The young girl with medium brown hair and had her eye colour scheme changed to red in the game had put her hair up in twin tails, but that seemed as if she was playing herself up a bit. She would do better with a hanging tail, just letting her hair down or having it treated to be wavy. Those really seemed to suit her face much more than the twin tail appearance.

As soon as they were out of the forest, the girl hopped ahead of Kirito and turned and smiled at him.

"Thank you again Kirito-san!"

She was about to run off back to town, but he stopped her by sending a friend request. When he noticed the name Silica for the girl running off, he smiled. It was a pretty name.

"I think it would be good if you let me help you level up some time. Help you get into some good equipment. I also think you would benefit a lot from the taming system. If you accept the friend request, I'll be able to find you and help you if you're ever having trouble with people again. I was kind of hoping you'd let me teach those scary guys a lesson..."

She laughed and started walking back toward Kirito. He caught up to her, and they entered the town together. When they were safely on the other side of the wall separating the town from the field of monsters, the quest finally ended for the young npc.

"Thank you so much for helping me find my new friend. Please, take this."

The quest reward window opened and the reward that showed there made Kirito a little embarrassed.

"If I'd only waited..."

"What was the quest reward Kirito-san?"

Silica seemed genuinely curious.

"A fine tuned taming flute. It actually has a percentage chance unlike the other one made for the quest. Maybe that's why it failed when I used an extra quest item..."

He opened his crafting menu to check something. When he got to the bottom of the list, indeed the quest item taming flute was gone, but it was replaced with the quest reward. Required items was a treant core, fine timber and feathers. He had everything needed for crafting the item, so he sat down, started the process and stood up, handing over the successful crafted one which had an even higher chance of success than his.

"As I said, Silica-chan could really use the help of a fine tamed friend, so have this, and we'll see about finding you a friend soon. If you find something called a feathery dragon, be sure to try your best on it – and let me know where you found it so I can match with you."

She smiled at Kirito as if he told a joke.

"Kirito-san is way too generous. At least...it seems those scary guys are already too afraid to come close anymore when they see I'm with you. Kirito-san must be very strong."

"Want to know a secret Silica-chan? I'm currently the highest level. I'm at level thirty five already. Also, keep this a secret...I defeated the second floor boss alone. Me and my good friends beat the third floor boss together today too. Silica can join me and my friends when you become stronger."

Silica became very excited when she heard what kind of offer she was getting.

"Kirito-san is like an amazing big sister. Is it...is it okay if I call Kirito Onee-chan?"

If Silica was going to join the group of his friends, then she would find out in a much more awkward way. That he was actually a boy...although it seemed nearly decided they would refer to him as female while in the game. He couldn't make up his mind. It didn't feel right to lie to Silica though.

"Silica can call me Onee-chan...but the game made a mistake and outside of the game I'm an Onii-chan. If Silica remembers that, then I'm be happy to be your big sibling."

She giggled and poked him softly and looked at him like he was joking.

"Kirito is so funny..."

"When you meet my other friends, they'll tell you. Two of them I know outside of the game. One's my cousin, and the other is my best friend. My cousin also calls me Onii-chan outside of the game, and my best friend's younger brother called me both. It won't be too different from normal if you call me Onee-chan."

"Kirito-san is a...boy who looks like a girl? Kirito is so much like a big sister though. So kind and you don't have that pervert look in your eyes like other boys."

"I'm just not a pervert. Oh, since we stood here so long, it looks like you get the chance to meet the rest of my friends right now."

Sinon Leafa Asuna and Lisbeth all walked in through the gate for the town shortly after he said that. They noticed Kirito talking to Silica and Leafa seemed to be interested for some unknown reason, Asuna and Lisbeth seemed disappointed and Sinon seemed to try looking away.

"Welcome back everyone, I just helped Silica here out after getting attacked by some minotaur monsters in the nearby forest during a quest. I gave her a taming flute I was able to craft after completing the quest. Come on, please introduce yourselves to her. I'm thinking of helping her level up and maybe she could join us later. If she gets a feathery dragon pet, that pet can use a healing skill, so it'll be great to have along."

"That sounds much better than Kirito trying to be a big sibling to someone else...or being a pervert. Kirito isn't like that though. You'd almost think he's traumatized with what the game did to him..."

Leafa managed to say it all. She said exactly everything, loud enough that everyone could hear it, but thankfully only Silica and the rest of the group would understand.

"Kirito really is then... Can...can Kirito and your friends help me level up and catch up to you? I want to help Kirito too."

After that, Silica and the rest made sure they all had each other on their friends list and Kirito got back to work at crafting levelling up. He managed to fill his inventory of wood and other crafting supplies, enough to make even more of the taming flute. Since that item had a high crafting experience gain for his level, he made many of them, and put them on sale in town. He kept the strongest ones for himself and Silica in the end, selling even the quest reward to customers who came until evening. Kirito sold a lot of wood craft items and enhanced a lot of items that day. The next day...he might work on leather working a bit maybe it would be just as intense. He could level those crafting skills and eventually be able to make incredibly strong leather light armour for base gear, Lisbeth could craft metal weapons and armour pieces, and he would also be able to craft high quality materials for her weapon crafting, and make him and Sinon very powerful bows.

"Oh, the bow was incredible today Kirito! You should have seen it! The starting skill for shooting skill is a piercing strike which gets a very powerful critical strike when you hit an enemy's weak point - I defeated a mushroom mid-boss in a single shot!"

Sinon was very impressed and confident in how overpowered it seemed the shooting skill was. Now Kirito wanted the skill even more.


	17. Chapter 17

The next few floors progressed not as quickly as the second and third. In fact, no group would go for the floors without Kirito's group. So they took their time, harvested as much as possible out of the dungeons and they worked on upgrading their gear. Silica stuck to the group, and she managed to catch up to their levels. At floor ten, the whole party was at the lowest level forty four. Silica was the lowest level in the party, however she and Kirito were also accompanied by the excessively rare pets, the feathery dragons. They in fact had found them a few days after meeting in the same forest they met when they were harvesting more materials for Kirito's wood crafting and the bird creatures had been replaced. Both had luck on their side, and they both had the blessing of a small feathery dragon who rode on their shoulders.

"Mine is Pina, and Kirito's is Kiin. Aren't they wonderful?"

Pina and Kiin happily cried from their perches on their shoulders. Silica was talking to a new friend she met on the floor who was around her age. Apparently they knew each other outside of the game as well.

"Your pets are really cute. Kiin has slightly purple feathers...maybe it's because Kirito-san's appearance is always wearing dark outfits?"

Kirito retorted that comment about his appearance.

"Even black has its limits...why are all the best gear types initially black?! It makes me want to start investing in the alchemy skill...but I'm already way too busy with growing Kiin, wood crafting, leather working, tailoring, cooking and ingredient mixing...plus we all do so much work for levelling. Even Lisbeth has a hard time keeping up. Maybe Leafa or Sinon or Asuna should pick up a bonus skill besides cooking and do alchemy so we can colour our gear. I normally wear black a lot of the time out of the game, but now I feel like I'll be ready to throw all those clothes out when we get out of the game."

Leafa and Sinon seemed to be pleased with such suggestion. Especially since the black clothing lent to his hair length as if it reached all the way to the ground instead of to his knees currently...

Nobody offered to go into alchemy though.

"Kirito is already doing so many, what does it hurt to do alchemy and think of it like the ingredient mixing?"

Silica's new friend was just full of things to make him a little upset. Kirito was getting tired of giving reasons to everything, so he summoned the alchemy skill and creation menu, and showed her just how much was ahead of him in alchemy alone.

"Alchemy is not simple mixing of ingredients. Alchemy is almost as much work as wood crafting, leather working and tailoring all at the same time. First, there's learning everything by testing each ingredient several times, then seeing two effects work together a lot of the time, the result of combining two items is useless. Alchemy takes it even further and adds in the cauldron item for mixing where you have to clean it after every mixture unless you want to end up mixing hundreds of items."

After he explained how deep alchemy was, nobody was interested in it at all. Rather, they were afraid of it. At least they understood why he wasn't investing time in it. At least, that was how they assumed it was when he mentioned it.

"I can't believe I already invested levelling it to twenty..."

Everyone looked at him with a strange array of expressions. Surprise, shock, admiration...pity. Silica's friend was of the pity type of expression.

"Kirito-san is so diligent."

After she said it, he sighed, knowing how she meant those words.

"So, I'm sorry I'm too afraid to join your friends in the higher floors. Please be careful when you all go and come back safe."

She was very kind, but she was afraid of leaving the safe areas. After the announcement in the Town of Beginnings, she hadn't left the safe areas once. She was sticking to the town areas, and sometimes talked to the more kind and less intimidating people. There was a very nervous person, and she hoped to play without fear when she first logged into the game.

Kirito and the rest of the group headed out, bidding Silica's friend farewell for the day and headed to the dungeon area they had found on the tenth floor. They would still only be working for levels and wait for other groups who were aiming to help with the climbing of the floors. It was already warned by Kirito's group widely that the difficulty jumps a massive amount as of floor ten. There were some groups who unfortunately didn't take the information seriously, or they underestimated the difficulty. There were already many people who fell to the dungeon monsters of floor ten. It was tragic, depressing, and frustrating that people wouldn't heed the warnings. Kirito was especially hurt that those people would take such risks and lose their lives because of those risks. Argo had become popular because of how much she was talked to in reference to the guidance of Kirito's group. The people who actually listened to her and successfully journeyed to the dungeons in a way that they could reliably level without reaching too far managed to come back safely and they were aiming to join the raid that Kirito's group was planning.

The raid party of the past were unfortunate victims of reaching too far. Kirito and the rest of the group had taken a particularly long break from floor clearing to warn off people from making the same mistake and making the time in Aincrad even more tragic. They had to try and return as many people back to the world outside of the game as possible, and that meant they had to work hard together.

On the way to the dungeon through the field, Kirito's group noticed a group of similar size who were much too low level for grinding even the field monsters. Just as a girl wielding sword and shield was about to take a fatal strike, none of the rest of her group ready to save her, Kirito charged in with sonic leap. He barely made it in time before the strike landed.

"Thank...thank goodness you're okay. You all really need to do your levelling in lower floors. This is far too dangerous."

The group stared at Kirito and turned away besides the girl with short cropped black hair. She had dark blue eyes and a beauty mark under her right eye. She was incredibly nervous, but she was trying her best to face him despite the rest of the group looking away.

"Th-thank you...for helping."

Kirito used a hi-potion on her and wouldn't leave them alone until they started heading back to the town.

The area was mostly rolling fields with plenty of boar monsters again, much higher level with some having different pelt colour, and much more of the minotaur type mob running around. Although the field had so many of the minotaur and boar type monsters, it was the same in the beta, and the dungeon instead had lizard type monsters and a wyvern type boss.

"If you want help levelling in a difficult area, we'd be happy to help, but not where it's too high a level for your group. Today we're just doing some levelling ourselves so it might be fine to help you out instead of focusing on our own levels. Everyone has to grow strong if we're aiming to clear the game together right?"

The average level for the other group was about...twenty five. That was something that might have been normal to have as a level in the beta at floor ten, but it was far too low currently. Apparently the girl of the group was the type who would rather stay in the towns. She was terrified whenever she saw a monster's gaze turn on her, even if they were passive.

"No thanks...you're that group who's been clearing all of the floors. It'd just be a waste of your precious time."

The apparent leader of the group wasn't the girl, but a guy who seemed he would otherwise be kind and reaching out for any help they could get. The boys of the group were unhappy at being helped by Kirito. Maybe it was because Kirito looked so feminine and outside of the group, he was considered a girl outright.

"Didn't you listen to me? I said we all have to work together. As of this boss, it's too much of a risk to approach a floor boss without a full raid party. That's why we've also been helping other groups. So that it's possible to meet the challenge instead of going unprepared. Heck, we wouldn't mind making sure other groups are as prepared as us to go in against a floor boss and start clearing the floors without us. As long as it's being done, and we're contributing to it somehow. I can contribute with my crafting and other non battle skills, just like everyone else in this group. Other people can go ahead and do their best fighting monsters, but please do so carefully."

After Kirito finished, the group left, but the girl paused and turned around with the intent to say something on her face.

"Please help us in the future again if you see us having trouble. Thank you again for saving me."

Kirito smiled and waved to her. He used his investigate skill he had invested some time into and noticed that they had formed an actual guild, called the Moonlight Black Cats. The girl of the group was called Sachi. She was extremely timid, but it seemed her group was intent on having her be the tank role. It was the worst place to put someone with her personality. He wanted to do something, to make them reconsider how they treated her if they considered her a friend of theirs, but they were back in the town already.

"Hey...how about after we finish our levelling today, we go to the Town of Beginnings and register as a guild?"

After he said those words, Kirito turned and saw that the others were waiting for him to finally suggest it.

"If Kirito wouldn't suggest it soon, I would have."

Sinon was a little forceful about it, but she was happy that he finally made up his mind about them being a proper guild. Instead of them continuing to just be called the beta group or the group led by the famous black haired swordswoman, they would have a proper name for people to know them by.

"Kirito in the game has made me realize that what happened in the past was...terrible, but we are still alive, and we need to treat it precious. We can't risk and force ourselves, because it's much better to be safe and cautious about how we proceed from now. Kirito also seems to be much more protective of everyone because of what happened. Probably the one manly thing about him. Especially with being made a girl in Aincrad..."

Sinon was very sentimental, but because she wasn't good with serious moods, she threw in a joke at the end about Kirito's situation because of the calibration.

Kirito complained about the joke, but he smiled and they went on into the dungeon. She was right. He was much more concerned about other people. He didn't want anyone else to die so long as he had the chance to effect the survival of people trapped in the death game Sword Art Online had become.


	18. Chapter 18

It had been a week since they last ventured out to the dungeon with Kirito. He had been spending time working on his crafts. Already, alongside Lisbeth's smithing, the two were able to provide the best gear possible with their current level. The group finally had a few other guilds ready to start working alongside them for floor clearing. One, named the Holy Dragon Alliance. They were people who were determined to do their best in escaping the game, with skills from other games. Another guild, a smaller guild with a familiar face at the lead. The leader Klein of Fuurinkazan. There was another guild which was led by a character who rang bells in Kirito's head from the time they met Asuna. A man in white and red with one hand sword and large shield.

There were a couple of other small groups, but in all, it was Kirito's group named the Beta guild, the Holy Dragon Alliance, Fuurinkazan and Knights of the Blood Oath who were holding up the majority of the floor boss strategy meeting before making their move on the boss of floor ten.

"It's so good to see Kirito again. And with a bunch of other girls~! And you said you weren't-"

He was cut off with what almost seemed a trademark, as Leafa stomped down on his foot.

"It's good to see you are safe as well, Klein. You and your guild are doing surprisingly well."

Klein rubbed the back of his head in a bashful expression.

"It wouldn't have been so without the guidance of Kirito and Sinon on day one. We all had to do a lot of practice before getting our levels up. It felt as if it would take until you reached floor fifty before we would catch up in the beginning, but you kept prolonging the clear of floor ten in being careful."

Kirito nodded his head and sighed. There was a little bit of respite before the heat of the meeting would begin. It seemed the leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath was becoming very impatient. Kirito was glad to see that not one person in the gathering was below level forty.

"Are we not getting started yet, leader of Beta?"

Kirito nodded his head and moved to the middle of the camp which he had set up outside of the dungeon.

"I was only getting a bit of needed rest, leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Plus, there are people who have come we haven't seen since the day of the announcement. A little catching up won't hurt, and we'll be more calm than nervous in the face of the boss monster."

The others in the gathering nodded their heads in confirmation.

"Since you are so eager, let's begin then. This floor, we face a wyvern class boss monster. The boss does not have minions this time around. Originally this floor had a minotaur class, but that might have been more difficult as wyvern have fewer mechanics to deal with. Our aim is to get through the dungeon without expending ourselves too much and gaining fatigue. When we reach there, we will decide on experience who will hold the boss' aggro-"

"Would it not be wise just to leave Beta in charge of holding aggro?"

It seemed there was a lot of agreement there. Everyone was comfortable leaving the head of the charge to Kirito's group. It wasn't a bad thing. In fact, it was reassuring that they were eager to let Beta lead the raid. Especially seeing as Kirito's group was the only which had their levels hanging around fifty. They had gear suited for handling whatever mechanics were thrown at them, and they had the most healing item potency out of anyone with the expansion of alchemy to Kirito's crafts over the last week. The high quality elixirs were something that could only be obtained by an alchemist, and only Kirito was a decent level alchemist so far.

"We can do so, however I believe examining how each guild handles fighting the wyvern monsters in the dungeon until we reach the boss room will give us a little insight on which guild is better organized against them. The greatest strength of the wyvern, is that they have high defence and hit points. A long fight is what we're going into, no matter how we look at it. Myself as a tank role, I am used to shorter fights. I might not be suited for this boss as lead tank if this draws out. Now I ask, are there any who play tank role in their guilds who are used to holding aggro for long periods of time?"

Kirito checked around the entire gathering, and not one person volunteered for such, but those in the Knights of the Blood Oath looked to their leader.

"Heathcliff-san, why aren't you speaking up? You're very experienced in long battles."

Heathcliff, the leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath sighed in response to the words of one of the subordinates, a high ranking member of the guild.

"I simply don't believe that we'll be facing such a challenge it will take long with such a large and powerful raid party. Up until this floor, Beta handled nearly everything aside the first floor. Who is to say that this floor will be that much more difficult?"

Kirito felt as if he were acting, though the acting was of a quality enough to easily mistake it as real. Sinon retorted Heathcliff's words.

"It's obvious you just want to push Kirito to do the lead tank role even though you have your special skill where you can hold a tower shield. You're more built as a tank than anyone else here. Regardless how skilled Kirito is, it's best to be prepared with someone who is good at off-tanking with drawn out fights. I vote that Heathcliff join this fight as off-tank."

Everyone agreed with her that it was better to have an intended tank role leading the aggro.

It was decided rather quickly that he would off-tank for the boss fight. He sighed and looked more and more disappointed in his expression as it seemed that he wasn't giving the kind of impression he wanted to.

After a little more calming down and assuring everyone of their roles, the raid group entered the dungeon. A group of twenty skilled fighters in the game, the most skilled, would have intimidated most outside players. That included a few people. There were some in the dungeon along the way who stared in surprise at the people in the group. Beta in the lead with Kirito, Sinon, Leafa, Asuna, Lisbeth and Silica looked to be the only female members of the raid. The rest were men of various appearances. Many sported a variety of known health conditions for otaku, while a select few were built decently well, reflecting what kind of person they were outside of the game a little. Truly though, the gear they wore outshone their body types, and other players knew to respect what they were about to do. Finally, after much time had passed since the last floor had been cleared, a large and powerful group were heading over to the boss room to restart the progression through the game.

Kirito noticed someone familiar along the way to the boss room in the first area of the dungeon. Actually, it was the entire guild, the Moonlight Black Cats. Sachi still wielded buckler and one handed sword and played as a tank. The levels were up a bit, but they definitely weren't ready to be fighting in the dungeon with her still showing how terrified she was of providing the tank role.

Kirito stopped the advance through the dungeon as he walked over to the guild.

"What? Any reason to stop heading over to your fight against the floor boss?"

The leader of the guild continued his attitude from before.

"You should really regroup as a guild and think about the kind of positioning you have. I hadn't mentioned it before since you left so quickly, but you really need to pay attention to your friend here playing your tank role. She is trembling even though there are no monsters around. That nervous of a person is not suited to being a tank. Either smarten up and one of you boys take her place, or you will never make it to the front lines. You're risking her life. Think about that long and hard. Get out of the dungeon now. You're free to use our tent outside and talk it out, but don't treat her so recklessly."

Kirito returned to the rest of Beta, and the whole raid group stared down the boys of the Moonlight Black Cats. The girl, Sachi had tears in her eyes. She was thankful in her expression, but she had something different to say.

"Miss black swordswoman, I'm willing to risk myself for my friends-"

"Friends don't risk each other though. Sachi, take better care of yourself. Oh, and sword and buckler definitely doesn't suit you. I suggest you try spear. Although a tank-type weapon here, it's also good for else wise. Better tank option would be the blond boy with the battleaxe."

Others from the raid party nodded their heads in agreement. Seconds later, the Moonlight Black Cats started making their way out of the dungeon. Sachi held back a little as she stared at Kirito. She mouthed something toward him which his advanced hearing level managed to catch as a whisper.

"Thank you, Kirito-san."

After that, she followed after the rest of the guild. Finally the raid party continued on through the dungeon. They had no issue with the monsters of the dungeon along the way. Through the only challenge of wyvern they quickly dispatched, it took less than twenty minutes to reach the large imposing door which separated them from the floor ten boss.

"Last minute check."

Kirito turned back to the rest of the raid group after saying those words.

"Everyone, ensure those performing as sub-healers are holding as many healing items required as possible. Ensure you have especially for this boss monster that bleed healing and paralysis healing potions are in their care. Keep track of how many are shared with the sub healer if you intend to take a portion back after. Be careful, but ensure that the careful way you participate ensures the safety of the rest of your guild. Let's make it through this without a single loss."

The people of the group silently nodded their heads in confirmation. It almost seemed as if a band of professional soldiers were going in for one of their most dangerous firefights from the atmosphere around them. It wouldn't be entirely inaccurate. It was dangerous enough that if someone made a single mistake and missed dodging a mechanic, they could die. They were video gamers, people who usually sat and enjoyed their games through a screen instead of experiencing it like the reality it had become for them. Every bit of what they were about to do was dangerous in every sense outside of the knowledge those who had played the genre they were facing. Those experienced in massively multiplayer gaming were those who knew how to handle the fighting within the game. The mechanics, organization and the roles which everyone had to fill were the same. If they didn't have the usual excuse of a magician healing, they would have an item sub-healer ensuring those taking damage would survive.

Another thing dangerous about what they were doing, was that normally in MMO gaming, there would be large alert areas for area of effect attacks, and in Sword Art Online, that wasn't the case. They had to watch and understand physical tells and react to them appropriately. Against massive monsters which if in reality were rampaging around would frighten nearly anyone.

Kirito and the rest of Beta pushed the door open, and immediately took off for the boss as soon as the door closed behind the full raid.

Kirito started off with his normal routine, ensuring that he was calculating with his mind and movements how to react to and direct the attacks of the wyvern in front of them. He went to the other side of the wyvern to draw its attention away from everyone else, ensuring he had the highest percent of aggro. Nobody would take it from him until Heathcliff would have to take over for a short time in giving Kirito a breather.

The beginning of the battle went well. The magic breath attacks from the wyvern were easy to predict and dodge in time, and Kirito was easily able to parry all of the basic attacks, ensuring his skill points were as full as possible at all times. Minutes for the beginning of the battle with the wyvern wasn't bad. What was daunting, was that after a timer he set counted up to five minutes elapsed, even with all of the counter attacks, high level skills and the input from the rest of the raid party, the health had only diminished by about a third of the first of the three. They hadn't even reached the first added mechanic. Five minutes was a long time in a melee fight. It was enough that a person going at full throttle like he was to ensure everyone else' safety would definitely be tired beyond belief. He was gasping to keep up, and ensured that Heathcliff was close to take over with the aggro so that Kirito could take a minute to recover. Heathcliff wasn't anywhere near Kirito's position.

Kirito grit his teeth at the disgust he was feeling his off-tank wasn't there to support properly when he needed it most, and he shouted.

"Heathcliff! You'd better be ready in three seconds to switch!"

On Kirito's words, the stream of the red and white uniforms from the Knights of the Blood Oath circled around the side right of Kirito from the wyvern, and Heathcliff nodded when their eyes met. Kirito felt a massive sense of relief as he performed his stun attack, a low level weapon bash and Heathcliff immediately started building aggro. The perks of the special skill Heathcliff had, the tower shield, was that while it was heavy and was big enough to negate many attacks, he didn't need to worry about his defence breaking. He could limitlessly draw aggro to himself without worry of being hit unless his opponent was faster than he could react.

Heathcliff didn't seem to keep that in mind however, as he only kept the aggro barely above Kirito's level of aggro. He let enough time pass that his immediate boost of aggro fell, and Kirito was under pressure again after mere seconds of recovery.

"At least warn me of a switch!"

Kirito said those words in a disgusted tone. Heathcliff smiled and shrugged. Kirito angrily unleashed all of his skill points and parried the next attack sending his skill point back to full. He kept unleashing the strongest one hand sword skill repeatedly and parrying to keep the skill points up for a single minute, that the hit points of the wyvern seemed to start draining. Everyone almost seemed to back off when they realized why that was. Kirito had given the wyvern a dozen stacks of bleeding in that minute, one dozen uses of the ultimate one hand sword skill gave a dozen stacks of bleeding damage. The damage continued to tick quickly, draining the wyvern quickly down to half.

"Switch now! Give me thirty seconds this time!"

Kirito gave a bash with one of his stronger stunning attacks, which sent the wyvern to the ground momentarily. Heathcliff took the aggro for precisely the thirty seconds Kirito mentioned. It was enough that the bleeding was half run out, and he would have enough energy to unleash his flurry of skills again.

"Switch, miss swordswoman."

Heathcliff actually participated in the call outs. Kirito gladly took the aggro and immediately countered one of the more powerful mechanics he had seen yet, striking a deep bleeding gash along the under belly of the wyvern. The wyvern screeched in the pain sensation it felt and turned back to Kirito.

"Everyone hurry to the other side! Raid switch! Inflict any bleeding type skills immediately!"

Kirito finished shouting those words and immediately got to work at unleashing his skills again. The multiple deep bleeding cuts he carved into the wyvern along with the now forty stacks of bleeding added on from everyone else ticked until the bleeding was negated at a quarter of the last bar left. The wyvern flipped over and hovered above the reach of their blades, preparing a powerful burst of magical energy. Kirito had to do something, make his best call yet in order to stop that full wipe attack from unleashing.

"Klein, Heathcliff! Charge over to me! Heathcliff, support me on your shield, and both of you get ready to activate your thrust skills against the shield! You're launching me and we're ending this before that attack kills us all!"

Klein was grinning from ear to ear and the both of them followed orders as they readied to launch Kirito at the wyvern. On his mark, Kirito was launched with what felt like a cannon worth of force. He had added to it with the bounding of his own legs, and activated the sonic leap ability, which was awkward but done easily enough in mid-air. The powerful slash of the sonic leap carved deep into the jaw line of the wyvern, along the neck and into the belly yet again, flashing the rest of the health bar to empty. Kirito barely managed to turn himself mid-air enough to land feet first against the wall on the other side, and lessen the weight of the impact both against the wall, and against the floor. The victory music started playing, but everyone was silent. Everyone stared at Kirito who for the first time since the first floor was completely exhausted from a fight. All eyes shifted between Kirito and Heathcliff, and Asuna as well as Sinon approached Heathcliff with stern expressions while Leafa, Lisbeth and Silica ran over to make sure Kirito was okay. The only damage taken during the entire fight from someone of the raid, was when Kirito left the tanking to Heathcliff, or when Kirito made the landing at the end.

"Heathcliff-san, just how do you feel about how this went?"

Asuna was asking in a literal sense as she looked back to Kirito in worry that there might have been more to the exhaustion he felt.

"I think it went remarkably well. Kirito-san is a wonderful leader, and managed to save us all with that quick thinking of hers."

"Yet you seem to know nothing of off-tanking, Heathcliff-san!"

Sinon was furious with his lack of care for Kirito's current state.

"I have limited experience on MMO gaming, so you'll have to forgive me-"

"News flash. An off tank waits until a call from the main tank that they're ready before letting their aggro drop. Kirito has been exhausted this entire time. It was because you pushed her by letting your aggro slide so easily that she could have died from this. If she did, we all would have died to that last attack. You're the leader of a guild. Start informing yourself before you put one of your guild mates or the rest of us at risk of dying."

She and Asuna turned and headed over to Kirito's side. Kirito had passed out from the fatigue. It ended up being a full ten minutes without break on Kirito's end. That much physical exertion in real life, non stop in fighting with life on the line. Nobody in that room could have done it in real life. Kirito pushed above and beyond, so that he could save everyone.

"We'll activate the teleport gate. You all go tell your friends of our progress. Heathcliff-san, I sincerely hope you start properly considering our position stuck in this world. Most of us have families to go back to. If you can so carelessly risk our strongest and most skilled person here, then you should dismiss yourself as a guild leader. For everyone's sake."

With those words from Asuna, she helped Leafa and Lisbeth lift Kirito up and carry her out of the boss room and up the stairs to the next floor. All eyes remaining in the room glared Heathcliff down.


	19. Chapter 19

"Kirito..."

He stirred in his sleep, the sound of a familiar voice resounding in his head. It was a voice he hadn't heard in years. It was the same tone and sound he would always remember of the comfortable days he was too young to think about gender. The sound of his mother gently trying to wake him from sleep with her words alone. Hearing her voice made him feel like crying.

"It's breakfast time, Kirito."

He'd heard those words so many times, and his first instinct was to open his eyes from the sleep. However, above him wasn't his mother's face in his dream, but yet another unfamiliar ceiling. Another large shared room. At least when he pushed himself to sit up in the bed, he noticed they hadn't left the door open that time. He sighed and stretched himself. Even inside of the game, he was able to feel the sensation as his limbs loosened and they popped at the sound of relieving the tension in him. There were no windows in the room, so he had no sense for time until he would open his inventory screen.

He still couldn't get used to sleeping in his armour, but they couldn't remove that without being marked orange in harassment. He pushed himself out of the bed and summoned the menu screen, immediately being updated on what had happened since the fight against the wyvern. Messages from the rest of his friends in the guild they formed told him that they were going to try dinner at one of the places nearby in the town on the eleventh floor. It was the late evening of the same day. At least it wasn't the full twenty four hours of the previous time.

There were also messages asking how Kirito was doing from the leaders of guilds who had participated in the raid. They were concerned if he was doing alright. Some other members of the guilds not the leaders...somehow unsurprisingly it included Klein, were asking Kirito out on dates. He shivered and deleted the messages asking him out on dates. Except for the one from Klein. At least Klein was concerned if Kirito was alright like the other raid leaders. Only Heathcliff of the guild leaders didn't ask if Kirito was okay.

Kirito set about replying to the messages, and by the time he finished, the girls returned from their dinner out on the new town.

"Oh! Kirito is awake!"

Hearing Asuna's voice say those words was a little embarrassing, but not as bad as all of the date messages. Kirito perked up a little when he was joined in the room.

"Somehow...it doesn't feel strange to all share a room with Kirito-san since he's female in game..."

Silica was the last to join in the room, and apparently neither her nor Lisbeth were informed either about closing the party before purchasing inn rooms to not share a room. Silica seemed to think of the experience on the level of a big sleepover, Lisbeth ventured that idea to move everyone's beds together and make it a real sleep over.

Kirito sighed at the mention of a sleepover. Really, he hadn't had such a thing before...he thought that until he remembered that he used to sleepover with Sinon when they were younger and the both of them had also slept over with Leafa as well. He wanted to avoid that being brought up, but it seemed everyone else was excited at the idea.

"It's all fine since Kirito is so feminine. Leafa and Sinon were telling us over dinner all about Kirito even going to the same girl only school with them. Kirito even has such a reputation~"

Those words from Lisbeth earned a short glare but another sigh escaped Kirito's lips and he had to admit.

"I'm disappointed in myself for letting my life become as it has. It's all because..."

Kirito didn't have the nerve to tell the others about why he and Sinon were living with Leafa's family. He didn't want to bring the troubles of real life into the fight of life or death inside of Aincrad.

"Does Kirito have any boys he likes? Girls?"

Lisbeth continued to tease. She perked up a little and changed the topic ever so slightly.

"How about we play truth or dare? It's something that's often done at sleepovers. I used to always make dares, but everyone chooses truth instead. So Kirito, truth or dare? Truth, you tell us if you have someone you like. Dare, you take off a piece of armour."

Kirito gave her a puzzled look. Everyone did have pyjama outfits for in game under their armour, so there was no issue with taking all of the armour off and being in the well covering pyjamas. He opened the menu and unequipped the chest armour in protest to answering the question. After all, he had a thing against lying, and if he were to tell the truth...

"Aww, Kirito is that certain not to tell us anything?"

"I'm just not worried about being in the well covering pyjamas over saying something so personal."

Lisbeth bore a sly expression when she heard Kirito's reasoning.

"Except...I had a friend prepare interesting pyjamas in case this ever came up. Since you only make nice and decent clothing with your tailoring, I had to go to someone else. There is punishment at the end of this if you end up in the pyjamas alone~"

Kirito started to sweat at the idea of something even worse than spilling privacy would bring up.

"Uhh, fine, next would be me since I already responded. Asuna, truth or dare? Truth, you say what got you into cooking. Dare, you eat one food item from my inventory."

Asuna instantly replied to take the dare. Kirito produced one of the failed dishes he had cooked because he hadn't been paying attention to the refrigerating effects on the pudding he was making during his crafting adventures. Asuna grimaced when she saw the food Kirito produced from his inventory.

"Uhm, Kirito-kun...how did Kirito-kun make something that makes my scent sensory hurt?"

"Refrigeration is very awkward, I found out while making this pudding~"

Kirito was a little jovial in answering, so Asuna pushed it back and said she would answer the question instead.

"Fine...I had to take cooking lessons while growing up. Mom and Dad weren't home very much, and I wanted to spend a little more time with them. I'd been told by my cooking teacher that food can bring people together, so I did my best learning under him to do my best with cooking."

Asuna's answer...touched Kirito in a way that he almost felt he should have gone for truth.

"Hm...that wasn't so bad. Now...Leafa. Truth or dare? Truth, tell us how Kirito really is outside. Dare, we'll continue Lisbeth's dare instead of dangerous stuff like Kirito's failed dishes."

Kirito sighed. He was trying to veer them off from unclothing themselves for the dare. He was also nervous that he might become even more aware of his state within the game. He hadn't been in a private enough situation yet to check over his body, and he was too nervous to.

Leafa seemed to understand how Kirito was feeling, so she continued by answering the truth.

"Kirito outside is...well, for the last few years he was really quiet. He had always been like aunty, really good at cooking and cleaning and taking care of us. He really is very feminine. He's also the reason I got into the beta test. Kirito is...ugh, it's depressing how popular he is and how many people he shot down confessing to him."

The last bit, he was mortified she brought up. His jaw hung open as he heard her start to tell them about the confessions he received.

Everyone's eyes were on Kirito. Leafa seemed to have grown upset as she thought of it.

"Ki~ri~to~...truth or dare? Truth, you tell us why you were so easily and harshly turning down the people who confessed to you. Dare, you take off another piece of your gear."

Kirito was conflicted. Was he okay with approaching closer to being put in the nerve wracking pyjamas? Or would he rather tell the truth? He took a deep breath, and opened his menu to remove the neck and arm gear which were connected. He was starting to feel nerve wracking bare compared to everyone else in the room.

"Uuu...Sinon. Truth or dare? Truth, you tell me why you chose to play a male avatar. Dare, the same condition I gave Asuna."

Sinon easily started to answer.

"It's because I thought it would be interesting to have a male avatar. It's not like I would feel conflicted about who I am. Plus, it helped me keep my mind off of what we went through."

She was the only one so far to so easily and normally answer a question without drama. However, the drama continued after she answered and continued the pattern.

"Kirito. Truth or Dare? Truth, you tell us the same thing as what Leafa asked. Dare, you remove another piece of gear."

Kirito started trembling a little at the thought of how much they were pushing him. Weren't they just bullying him into the pyjamas at this point?

"Fine! I turned down the confessions because I was not ready for anything, and I was harsh because I was too nervous to talk to anyone but Sinon. I especially turned down boys who confessed to me because they made me more conscious of how feminine I am..."

With the answer out, everyone stared at Kirito.

"I...had no idea Kirito was so..."

Sinon was disappointed she had asked Kirito to reveal something so personal in front of everyone. She would have preferred him take the dare and remove the leg armour.

"Silica-chan. Truth or dare? Truth, you tell me why you choose twin tails when other hairstyles would suit you so much nicer. Dare, the food item from my inventory."

Silica gave Kirito a pitying expression which he felt disgusted in earning.

"Why is Kirito being so nice in his questions?"

Kirito insisted her to answer.

"I choose twin tails because...I'm so used to it. It feels cute and Mom likes it."

"I definitely think a hanging tail or slightly waved style with your hair down would suit Silica better."

Kirito expressed that to Silica and she blushed at his opinion and consideration.

"Kirito-san is so nice... Kirito-san. Truth or dare? Truth, how does Kirito really feel about being feminine? Dare...uuh, I'm sorry Kirito-san. I can't think of anything other than what everyone else dared Kirito-san."

Kirito sighed and removed the leg armour. Next, would be the gloves, torso clothing or the pants. Then it was only the accessory items and pyjamas underneath. He was feeling uncomfortably bare.

"Lisbeth. Truth or dare? Truth, why did you start a smith shop? Dare...ugh, let's go with the stupid gear thing."

She seemed to have a difficult time deciding. In the end she chose to answer the truth.

"I decided to be a smith to try and get over my anxiety of talking to people. I'm fine when it comes to friends, but...I wanted to become better at talking to other people. I just...really ended up nervous talking to people or the pressure of having a lineup."

Kirito felt it wasn't anything embarrassing at all for her, but she was embarrassed to admit it. She turned that embarrassment on Kirito for apparently an ultimatum on the truth or dare session.

"Kirito. Truth or dare? Truth, are you afraid of seeing what the game did to your body with your own eyes? Dare, remove the rest of your armour and wear the punishment pyjamas!"

Kirito stared at her in horror as he heard the choices. Everyone stared at him waiting for his choice. It would be simple enough to admit to being afraid of it, but...

Kirito opened his menu and started removing the rest of the gear, leaving him in the pyjamas that he had crafted for everyone, and he was presented with a trade screen from Lisbeth, sending him...a revealing cat-girl themed nightie...

"N-no...no way! You're going to have me wear this?!"

"It's the dare Kirito! You removed the rest of your armour, the rest of the condition is to wear the punishment pyjamas!"

Everyone's expressions changed as they saw how devastated he was with the ultimatum. He had no idea that the pyjamas could be so...harming of his identity as male. Reminder of being dressed up in a pareo and bikini top came to mind and he nearly screamed in protest. He worked up the courage however, pressed the accept button from the trade and curled up as he selected to change the under clothing from his pyjamas to the punishment set from Lisbeth.

"Lisbeth! How could you push so much for this?!"

Lisbeth seemed happy that Kirito was in the outfit and fit it well, but Kirito had come to tears over it. She didn't feel bad about him crying over it. All he had to do was answer the truth and he would have been fine.

"It was Kirito's decision, and everyone else got Kirito to remove his gear as well. Now we know just how much Kirito really looks like a girl here. At least he isn't like Leafa. His figure...is somewhere between Sinon and Asuna. The game shouldn't make big changes. Sinon, Leafa, how similar is his shape here to outside?"

Sinon and Leafa seemed to be conflicted about answering. About other things as well. Leafa ended up answering.

"Kirito outside is...very similar. Everything aside from the chest seems so similar. His skin is even the same."

Hearing it from Leafa, they all looked at him in the disbelief that he really could be a boy outside of the game. He took a deep breath, sighed and fell back into the bed. He covered his eyes with his right hand, and hoped the pyjamas were covering him well enough. The way the material fell over him, the open section on the chest showing cleavage he could feel but not see. That he didn't want to see... He could feel a great deal of his figure revealed to them. His back was hardly covered. It couldn't really be considered clothing, he thought.

"Lisbeth, just where did you get that from?"

That question was asked by Leafa.

"Someone who had been asking me about Kirito last week. He said he would give me one for everyone in our guild, in exchange to give the info required to send Kirito a message-"

"Then that's why I had those thirty date request messages?!"

Kirito interrupted Lisbeth and shot up, feeling more awkward as his chest painfully moved about in the sudden movement. He glared at her for the result of her getting the perverted pyjamas.

"Wh-what?! Kirito had date request messages?!"

"I deleted all of them! Some of them came from guys who were in the raid with us, and the rest were from random people I know nothing about!"

They all looked at each other then back to Kirito as they realized how truly dangerous it was for Kirito in the game. To have that many people after him as a girl in the game already... There was of course the challenge of getting through the game as well.

"I mean, it was fine getting the messages of concern asking if I was alright from the other guild leaders with some sense in their heads. I almost regret answering Klein's message since he was also asking me out on a date. I only told him that I was fine, ignoring the date part. Why the heck are people so fixated on dating when we're..."

Kirito was at a point that it was almost becoming difficult to get the words out.

"Kirito, I can agree to the feeling of wanting to put our efforts into getting out, but you seem to take the whole dating thing more personally that I thought you would-"

"Because I still don't have the courage to confess my feelings to the person I do have feelings for! Even though..."

Kirito cut her off, then caught himself before telling everyone outright who he had feelings for or giving hints. He was completely red in embarrassment. He let his hair hang over his face as if a way of hiding his embarrassment.

"So Kirito does have someone he likes?"

Lisbeth seemed to want to keep prodding the answers to what was asked of him during the truth or dare. She had backed off though when he didn't answer.

"Well, I feel really bad for teasing Kirito so much. Who all is okay with wearing the pyjamas from that person and calling it a night?"

Everyone was ready to call it a night, but it seemed only Lisbeth as atonement and Sinon were okay in sharing the embarrassing pyjamas.

"Why not just switch back to our regular pyjamas?"

That question raised by Kirito before they turned out the lights had everyone giggling.

"Yeah...it might be a better idea than exposing ourselves more in our sleep."

That brought up by Lisbeth made her feel sheepish of showing her body to the rest of their group. There was nothing terribly embarrassing if they were all really girls, but Kirito was truly a boy, and they had to consider that. No matter how conflicted they were on whether he was really male or female with the female body he was given by the game.


	20. Chapter 20

She nervously walked along the street of npc vendors and wondered if she could find a spear like the leader of the Beta guild had suggested to her, late after the rest of her friends from outside the game fell asleep at the inn. She had already passed by the street where all of the other players had their stalls before, and the street had been empty. She was nervous to be walking around at night on her own, but she wanted to get over her nervousness as much as possible. That person leading Beta was so strong and calm even when marching off to the boss battle the day before...

She took a deep breath and sighed. What good would it do for her to risk herself all alone at night? There were still creepy and terrifying people in the game, and she wanted nothing to do with them.

She shivered against the cold status the night was giving off. There was a light breeze which passed through her leather and cloth armour in the uniform blue colour her guild were originally going to share, and the breeze chilled her to the bone. Sometimes, she wondered just how different the game was from real life. With how realistic food could be, the effect of sleeping...

There were so many things that came to her mind. As she arrived back at the teleport gate plaza, she sighed and wondered if there would be something on the eleventh floor she could purchase. Maybe something to warm up like a hot cocoa drink.

She reached the teleport stone and took a deep breath to prepare herself.

"Teleport, eleventh floor."

The scenery around her vanished to black for an entire second like usual when traversing floors, and she found herself on another floor of the game when colour returned around her. Another new floor. One she hadn't seen yet. She looked around, but there were no immediate signs of people around or any npc shops in the teleport plaza. She shook her head and turned around to see if there might be an inn with a restaurant. Bigger inns had restaurants she had found so far, so when her eyes rested on a large building with an inn sign and coffee cup picture on another sign hanging on the end of it, she started immediately making her way over.

She found it both calming and terrifying to have nobody around. There were no people, no sounds of insects or other night animals about on this floor. Of course, there would be npcs who would retreat into their homes and players who would have found a place to spend the night. There were some people who enjoyed going out during the night and play their games, but even many of those kind of people like a couple of the boys from her guild had switched to daytime alone for their activities because of how dangerous it could be to train at night.

She made it to the door of the inn, grabbed the handle and turned it. She made her way in gently, as if she were intruding. She was given a welcome smile by a person with an npc name and marker over their head and she sighed. The first npc she saw was someone who asked her about purchasing a room in the inn, and there was another who she was alerted to by the sound of squeaking as they polished a glass at a counter where it almost seemed familiar as a coffee shop.

"Would you like to purchase a room for the night?"

Sachi shook her head with a smile, and started walking over to the counter where the other npc was polishing a glass which she could recall memories with family at a small restaurant. Those kinds of glass usually had juice in them.

"What can I get for you, miss?"

The man on the other side of the counter was as friendly as he was programmed to be. It was strange. The npcs felt so real sometimes, but she was able to communicate with them so easily.

"Can I get a medium hot cocoa please?"

After she said those words, she earned a nod and he turned around. Another sound entered the first floor of the restaurant from the stairs. She could hear a stifled yawn, and soon she saw a figure cloaked in a white night dress, pyjamas which looked so comfortable to her on first glance, she wondered if she could work toward that. She closed her eyes and reminded herself of the spear. It didn't last long in reminded herself before the sound of the light clack of the mug with hot cocoa was placed in front of her. She looked at it and sighed. As soon as she finished sighing, taking in the scent of the cocoa, she heard as the other person who had descended the stairs sat beside her.

"What can I get for you, miss?"

"Coffee, black please."

Sachi turned to face the other person, their voice ringing clear and familiar in her ears. She became anxious as she saw the unforgettable face of the leader of Beta.

"Good morning. How are things with your guild after my involvement yesterday?"

Sachi became nervous and flustered, and...she saw those dark brown eyes and how honest they were and she wanted to let out how nervous she was about the entire situation of the game. She didn't feel that way about her friends, which made her feel guilty about not being able to talk to them like that.

"Uhm, miss...thank you again..."

Kirito sighed and took a sip of the coffee. There was something about her which was just so calming and made Sachi feel like opening up to her.

"You're welcome. I just...really felt bad seeing you pushed so much. It reminded me of how difficult it used to be for me to play a game as a tank role. I guess reality has much more an effect here, so my kendo helped me with playing tank this time around, and it's become so much more important to me to stress that people suited for roles take those roles. Nobody should risk themselves. We're trying to get out of here alive. I preferred archery outside of the game, so I'd like to unlock that skill like one of my friends, but being able to protect them feels more important."

Kirito's words rang in Sachi's ears like a song. She was almost in tears for how much Kirito must have gone through.

"Miss..."

Sachi wanted to say something, but words couldn't come to mind.

"My name is Kirito."

Kirito already knew Sachi's name, but he had a feeling that Sachi didn't know his.

"Kirito-san...such a pretty name."

Kirito blushed a little, and paused a little for another sip of coffee.

"Kirito-san, would...would you be able to merge our guilds? Convince the others somehow to join your guild?"

Kirito shook his head. He knew just how the others of Sachi's guild thought of him. Intrusive, and elitist. Of course, he was only promoting safety in the end, but he was still the highest level player and the most well known in the game.

"I can't change your friends. They're determined to play recklessly, and they were willing to risk you as a tank role. I'd wager you've played a tank role in another game before this? That would be their reason for having you tank here, right? While it's understandable to a degree, it's also terrible. You definitely give off more of a healer kind of feel. Staying back and supporting your team. While this game doesn't have magic, the use of items has become very important. This shouldn't be thought of as a game. At least, not the battle aspect of it. Take mechanics and such and patterns into account, but consider a battle as what it is here, something dangerous."

Kirito took another big sip of his coffee and sighed. Sachi hung her head and took her first sip of the cocoa, sighing at the pure satisfaction of how nice and sweet it was.

"Would...would Kirito protect me too, like your friends?"

"Of course."

She looked at him, and her eyes were filled with tears. To hear that voice so calmly and assuredly immediately answer a confirmation to such a question...

"Would you like to join our guild, Sachi? I feel awkward asking it when you have that guild with your friends, but it would be easier to protect you if you joined our guild. I've realized all too painfully with all of those people who challenged the tenth floor boss that I can't protect everyone, but I can ensure the people in my guild are at least fully prepared and safe a lot of the time. I would encourage continuing talking with your friends, so that things aren't awkward outside when we finish the game, but there is nothing I personally can do about their point of view. How they're used to things. I feel like things could have been different if I played like normal with games and went solo. Maybe I would have joined your guild, and maybe something unfortunate would happen because of how your friends are. This is a chance that we can make them consider their safety more. You can join us, then they would have to consider changes to how they are. Sometimes it's good to give your friends a little push."

Sachi had to agree with everything Kirito said, and the allure of the idea in joining Kirito and the rest of the guild was something she had difficulty thinking there was another good path to go for herself.

"Kirito-san...I've been so...so terrified, and weak, and...I just bring everyone down. Are you really okay with me?"

"Sachi just hasn't had the chance to prove yourself yet. Things are less scary with friends who are ready to protect you. Weakness is telling yourself that you can't do something. Just...just be yourself, do what you can and we can help you. Weakness here in this world can be changed with gear, practice and levels. You just need to make the choice that will let you grow from this experience. I already feel like things might be even more fun with you joining us. I could even teach you alchemy and you could do something with potions. Or you could do something with other crafting. There are a lot of things I could help you with, and all you have to do is say that you're ready to stand up for yourself. We'll help you."

She was crying, just listening to his voice. She barely missed her cup of hot cocoa and she turned and threw her arms around Kirito's shoulders and hugged him.

"Thank you so much, Kirito-san."

Kirito smiled and sent her the invites for both joining the guild, and to join his friend list.

"I already have a room, so let me buy you a room for tonight. You should get some rest, but finish your cocoa first, alright?"

Kirito left the hug and placed down the currency to pay for both of their drinks, and walked over to the inn counter, where he pointed Sachi out and started scratching his head in confusion. He turned around and returned to her.

"I'll invite you to the active party, and they'll extend the room we already have so you can join us. It seems they won't let me purchase a room for another person."

He scratched his head again and sent her the invite to the active party. She was surprised to see the list of different names fill the side of her vision where everyone's simplified information was. The leader of the party was marked as Kirito. His name was at the top of the list under her information for health, skill points and such. Under his name, next was Sinon. After her, was Leafa. Next in the list was Asuna. The last two under them in the list were Lisbeth, then Silica. In total, she counted the party now having a total of seven. They were just under the amount of people which would normally be considered a full party. Eight people were usually considered a full party, and they carried a third of responsibility in a full raid situation, things like the floor boss of the tenth floor. Sachi had a feeling it might not be long for Kirito's kindness to reach another person, and they would have a full eight person party. Kirito was just that kind of enigmatic leader. Attracting people in all the good ways. Sachi took a deep breath, and realized her heart was pounding. Of course it would be. She was excited. Maybe there was more to it, but she was excited to have the support of such a good person.

Kirito walked back over to the reception for the inn, and Sachi drank the rest of the cooled down cocoa before joining him. She grabbed hold of his hand, and he seemed a little nervous. She let go, feeling as if she had gone too far with her actions. He led the rest of the way up the stairs, and to the first door on the right, which opened to a large room where all but the new bed added in by the game's system were pushed together.

"Ah right...quietly please. I forgot about their whole sleepover idea. Would you like me to put your bed with everyone else'?"

Sachi saw everyone sleeping peacefully, and she felt a warmth in her. All of those strong people who led the raid before, were strewn about on the beds which were pushed together. People that she immediately respected since the group together had defeated so much of the early part of the game.

"I don't want to wake anyone. I'll sleep on the separate bed. I'm sure Kirito-san has some sort of skill which will let her use the beds without waking everyone. Kirito-san...thank you again."


	21. Chapter 21

In the morning, Sachi had woken herself early with her alarm, so the only immediate confusion when everyone else woke up, was the appearance of another bed in the room. Seeing that made them confused. Kirito answered them that they had another member in their guild. He quickly equipped his gear back on, and made his way down the stairs. He sat down beside Sachi, and she looked up from a cup of black coffee. She had a bitter expression on her face, exclaiming that she didn't like the taste. He hadn't seen her drink any of it, but he choked back from giggling at the expression on her face.

"I like coffee black for different reasons, but most people have theirs with milk and sugar to stifle the bitterness. Good morning, Sachi."

She sighed and almost seemed tempted to pass it back to the npc on the other side of the counter. She looked back down at the cup of coffee in front of her, and it felt more to her like a challenge than just a cup of coffee she could ask to have milk and sugar added to. She picked it up, and Kirito didn't stop her since there was no steam effect. She took a big gulp of it, and sighed in exasperation.

"Black coffee is also an acquired taste, so if you drink it enough, you might come to like bitter things. At least, bitter tastes. There are some bitter things taste won't deal with."

Kirito giggled again. Somehow, he was more easily able to put up with being feminine around Sachi. It reminded him that he hadn't told her about him being male outside of the game. He would have to inform her at least before the rest of Beta would join them. Just as he was about to start talking, Kiin appeared. Kirito and Silica were keeping their feathery dragons in the safety of tamer cryst sometimes, but he and her weren't so fond of keeping their little feathered friends bound away. Plus, they would be extremely helpful in many situations.

Kiin grabbed Sachi's attention, landing on Kirito's shoulder and chirping at Sachi as if telling her something.

"Kiin, that's bad manners. You have to introduce yourself first if you're going to talk to someone, right?"

Kiin gave an expression of regret, the light pink eyes in contrast to the purple feathers giving a magical feeling.

"Sachi, this is Kiin. Myself and the younger of our guild both have one of these guys tamed. I'll let her introduce hers to yours, but you get to meet Kiin right away. The feathery dragon pet."

Sachi giggled and reached out to pet Kiin on the head gently. Kiin cawed a little in a happy tone like a bird. The both of them laughed.

"Sachi...I'm sorry I hadn't thought to bring it up last night, and you deserve to know like the rest of the guild. Outside of the game, I'm actually a boy."

She looked from Kiin's face to Kirito's and blinked a few times. At first, it seemed the words hadn't registered, then she grew flustered.

"But Kirito is just like a girl! And you were wearing that last night! And-"

"A lot of my appearance was properly rendered, but I missed the one important part during the calibration, so my body in Aincrad is female, but I'm really a boy. The others have no issues with it, especially with me being so feminine, but you deserve to know, and they would be talking about it as if you know, so it's better you hear it from me than from their banter."

She stopped being flustered and nervous somewhere along the way. She smiled and looked at Kirito in a way that she was worried her feelings would be conveyed, but Kiin caught on and drew his attention.

"It's fine, Kirito-san. I like Kirito-san just the same. Girl or boy, you're someone precious and important."

She blushed as she said it, and he had also become flush in embarrassment. Drama ensued as they were joined by the rest, all in their gear, ready for breakfast.

"So, is this the person Kirito meant with-"

"Stop that, Lisbeth! Sachi had joined our guild last night. She was having a difficult time with her old guild, friends from outside the game, and we came to the agreement it would help if she gave them space to figure out playing together without her. We can help her and such. Besides, the person I like I've known for a long time and I only met Sachi in the game."

He was giving away hints because of how persistent Lisbeth was at teasing him.

Sachi was a little flustered, but she shook her head and drank the rest of the coffee.

"Sorry to cause a commotion...My name, is Sachi... My old guild, the Moonlight Black Cats were friends of mine from school, our computer studies club. Last night...I was being silly...and wandering around. I was looking for a new spear like Kirito-san suggested to me yesterday before the boss fight. I...ended up in this seat and buying a cocoa, and Kirito-san joined me. Kirito-san seemed to understand my situation so much...he suggested I join everyone and now here I am. It's nice to meet you, and I hope I can be of help in the future."

She was nervous, and made small awkward pauses between a lot of what she said, but she managed to get everything out before bowing in the end. It was awkward for everyone to see her bowing on the stool of the bar.

"That was a very nice introduction, Sachi. Now, since everyone's awake and I missed out on cooking dinner last night, I'll make use of the kitchen behind the counter and make everyone some breakfast. Is that alright mister?"

Kirito turned to ask the question of the npc on the other side of the counter at the end, earning a happy nod. Kirito smiled and turned to everyone. Don't go saying anything to give Sachi the wrong impression of me.

Asuna followed him until he reached the point to cross the other side of the counter.

"I want to help with making breakfast, or is Kirito-kun being childish after last night's truth or dare?"

Kirito sighed and let her in with him behind the counter. Sachi sighed as she watched them.

"Kirito is a bit oblivious, isn't he Sachi-san?"

Those words came from Lisbeth, still stirring up trouble. Sachi panicked and nearly knocked the empty coffee cup from the counter, but the npc caught it on time.

"N-no! Kirito-san...Kirito-san is just...very focused. Set on clearing the game and bringing everyone home..."

Sachi tried to think of it as just Kirito being so focused on going home, but she was still brooding over the thought that he had someone else he liked. She meant every word she said before, even if he was being oblivious. That she liked him whether he was a boy or girl.

Kirito and Asuna tended to the kitchen while it seemed the rest had managed to calm down and start learning a little about each other. Sachi was able to Meet Pina as well, and Kirito smiled at some of the things he heard through the sounds he and Asuna generated in the kitchen from the cooking mechanics.

They didn't really do anything special for the breakfast, but it was something a little to make up for the lack of him being around the night before, and to introduce Sachi to his cooking. It was why he wanted to do it alone, but there was no harm in letting Asuna in.

"How is Kirito-kun holding up after yesterday?"

Asuna asked as she made some last bit of seasoning with a potato dish she had been preparing.

"I'm...exhausted."

Kirito sighed when he finished telling her. He truly was exhausted. He was still tired, and it definitely didn't help that he had been up part of the night when he met Sachi at the counter or with the whole truth or dare. Crying during that certainly didn't help either. For a few reasons he could think of.

"Last time you collapsed after a boss fight, it was more than a full day for you to recover, so I'm impressed you're up and about like this already. You really should get some more rest though, Kirito-kun. It's better to be healthy and ready for anything than pushing yourself too much."

He had to agree with her. She brought up a point that he always kept in mind during his kendo and archery training. To never exert too far. Because pushing too far will only dull the body from being able to perform as trained. Pushing too far could also further dull the body if the body becomes used to the actions beyond the limit the body pushes.

"Thank you, Asuna. You have been very supportive lately, and I appreciate it. Sometimes...it feels like I can't get a break. Like I have to push myself all the time. So that we can all get out of this together. It's already been more than a month, yet here we are only on floor eleven out of one hundred. It makes me nervous that we're looking at being out after ten months. It might even be much longer, depending on how difficult the higher floors are. In the beta, me and Sinon never made it past doing anything beyond the boss of the tenth floor. At that point, we were really curious what kind of difficulty spike we would face, but I'm...I'm scared at how difficult he made this to get home. Maybe he doesn't want us to go home. Trap us here and make us experience Aincrad for the rest of our lives... As much of a great fantasy it could be to just settle down and relax here, I'm reminded every minute with Sinon and Leafa here that there's a home to return to. Sinon has family she hasn't seen in a few years, and Leafa has parents to return to. With everyone else, the great friends I've made here, I know there must be things everyone is eager to return to. I'm a full supporter of keeping our real lives private and to ourselves, but sometimes I wonder what everyone else is eager to return to when they get out of the game, or what reasons people might want to stay in the game..."

Kirito sighed after mentioning his thought about people wanting to stay. He could imagine it. He almost wanted it for himself, but for everyone else' sake, he was ready to give that up and live a normal life with them back in reality.

"Kirito-kun didn't mention having something to return to other than a home, yet Kirito-kun seems a little younger than me. Surely Kirito-kun has family to return to as well?"

Kirito immediately had tears in his eyes, reminded of the one thing he was trying to push away. Asuna's well intended words ended up bringing him to tears, and she worried she brought up something she shouldn't have.

"Are you okay, Kirito-kun?"

Kirito rubbed the tears from his eyes, but the tears continued to fall. He sighed and looked at her with the tears still streaming down his face.

"I hate keeping it all to myself, Asuna. I hated being quiet ever since the accident. I hated becoming more feminine. I hated kendo and archery sometimes. I even sometimes hated my own feelings, what they made me do to someone important. Yet, everything I hate are things I love, because they're all things that made me who I am. Being quiet made me better at listening and understanding everything around me. I'll always treasure the things mom taught me, even if they're a large part of what make me feminine. Kendo and archery made me strong, as able to fight as I am. The feelings I have, are part of what make getting home so important to me. Without those, I might be one of the people trying to halt progression and keeping everyone stuck. That's just horrible though, and...even if it's a day we lose in reality, it's a day we live here so we have to make the most of it and try to enjoy this game as a game along the way. Sorry...Asuna. I just...I really needed to get that off my chest..."

He wasn't even seeing the expression on her face, but when he felt his tears still running and looked up to see her face, he realized that maybe he said too much. She had tears running down her face too. She had an expression which almost seemed she might be in pain. She hadn't cut a finger or anything lethal. She was crying just from hearing what he had said. Something he had said.

He walked around the stove they had been making breakfast on, and he gestured that he would give her a hug. He knew them from his mother and from Shino that they could really do a lot of healing. Asuna accepted, and he could feel the warmth of their connection, but he was reminded that reality and the game weren't the same, as there would always be a gap between everything the brain registers. Things were missing from the sensation of the hug. He couldn't think of them, but he knew it wasn't the same. Asuna let go after a little, and she sighed.

"Kirito-kun...must have been through a lot..."

Kirito took a deep breath and sighed.

"I would like if you drop the honorifics. Or would you like me to call you Asuna-san?"

He tried to lighten the mood. When she giggled in response, he smiled at the confirmation it worked.

"Alright...Kirito. Now, let's serve the miracle of your miso soup you somehow managed to figure out and these shredded potatoes. Everyone must be very hungry by now."

He nodded his head, turned and divided the miso soup into a bowl for everyone, and put all the bowls on one tray, while Asuna prepared a plate for everyone's shredded potatoes on a tray. The two of them rounded out and served everyone their meals and sat down next to each other at the end of the counter. Everyone was a little concerned about how puffy and red their faces were, but they also sensed the mood that there would be another time to ask what had happened in the kitchen.

Sachi was getting along well with everyone, and they all enjoyed the breakfast silently together. The npc on the other side of the counter like usual seemed to be polishing the one glass in his hand, and Kirito recalled a line from a movie a few years back. That it was like a tic. Something that served a purpose. A motion which filled the urge to be doing something, even though achieving nothing. The npcs could help them along, but really they were just like the character in that movie, doing something, though achieving nothing.

Breakfast ended silently, Kirito and Asuna went about doing the dishes, ensuring they didn't leave anything undone. Even though the game would clean the dishes on its own. It gave them a sense of relaxation and realism to the act of washing their dishes when done with their meals.

"Asuna. I'm going to concentrate on the crafting skills for a while. I want to be sure we're all completely ready for whatever we do next. Maybe I'll get back to the fighting again after. For now, I want us to be careful. I want everyone to be careful."

Asuna nodded her head and picked herself up. She finished clearing up after their crying before, and she was ready to take over in leading everyone in whatever they would do for the day.

Kirito took a deep breath when she left the kitchen a little ahead of him so to take the lead. He thought about how dangerous that could have been. Regardless how good of friends they had become or privacy matters, they were in a virtual space where actions could be mistaken for more than intended. He knew how everything could look or be interpreted by the others, and he knew that more people would only bring more drama, especially on a topic of romance. With his own feelings to account for, and then the feelings he was able to tell from the others, he was broaching very dangerous territory. He needed to be careful he wasn't leading any one of them on, and when he saw Asuna's eyes without being able to see like normal from Shino or Suguha, he had a feeling he couldn't confirm that she might be developing feelings for him. Even if she went on about seeing him as a girl.

He already knew he was in dangerous territory outside of the game with both Shino and Suguha's feelings, but he could also tell on a certain level that there might come trouble with Asuna, Lisbeth and Sachi. Silica felt too much like a little sister even with the kind of bond they developed to be able to refer her otherwise.

He finished checking himself over and ensured he had his best crafting gear on, so that he would be able to increase his crafting levels. He tried pushing the thoughts of romance and such out of his head, too much going on there and it would distract him from being able to perform as good as possible with the crafting.

He made his way out of the kitchen, only for everyone to still be there with expressions as if they were waiting for him to lead them like usual.

"I'm doing crafting stuff today. Unless everyone finally wants to pitch together in that?"

Asuna and Lisbeth particularly smiled to the question he asked, while Sinon, Leafa, Silica and Sachi simply smiled.

"We should all pitch in to being ready as possible. Kirito is reliable, but it would be better to all offer our own to progression aside from our levels and fighting the floors."

Kirito gave them sceptical looks, and started to contradict those words.

"I appreciate the thought, but it'll take a while to catch up and free up one of my crafts. I might as well just continue-"

"Kirito needs to share the load with us. We all want to help, and Kirito shouldn't be tired all the time from working so hard to make sure we're all safe. Kirito can work on your own, but we should work on our own gear as well. We'll all specialize in something. So Kirito should decide on the one thing he'll keep."

Silica said those words. It caught him a little off guard since she seemed just fine with relying on him before.

Lisbeth had the smithing skill she was working on before Kirito really started into crafting, so she could just stick to that, while he had ended up taking on wood working skill, tailoring, leather working, alchemy, additional effect enchantment, and accessory craft. Of course there was also cooking he wouldn't drop. There was effectively enough that he had taken on he could literally share with everyone. It would take some time for everyone to work up to the required level of crafting to reach the point he was at, but then it was fine. Then, they would each only be investing so much time and effort into one extra skill. Because of how the crafting skills worked with timing and use, he almost felt he **had** to keep the alchemy one as his main craft. But then, the additional effect enchantment couldn't be done without the skill in alchemy, they were directly connected. So he would have to keep at those two regardless, with the massive load of work that they posed to catch up on.

"Well...I highly doubt anyone has the nerve to take on the alchemy, and the additional effect enchanting is directly tied to that, so I'll hold onto that and work on it. There's the potions, dyes, and a variety of other things with the alchemy, so those will be something to keep at a high level. There's especially a lot of boost when I get alchemy to level fifty and can start crafting temporary stat boost potions we could use for dealing more damage and such in battle. Potions are so much more useful when crafted than crystals, so I suggest we stick to that and we can sell any crystals we pick up toward a guild fund. I'd like us to own a guild house together soon, but we should wait until we reach a floor where we can all agree on a place we really enjoy."

They continued to wait as if Kirito were about to suggest which of the crafts someone should go into. Instead of outright suggesting...

"Well, I had invested time into everything but the smithing skills since Lisbeth was working on that. Leather working ties in a lot with the smithing talent and wood working, so it's more meant for someone who would work well with both Lisbeth and whoever would take on the wood working. Wood working ties greatly into tools and parts for certain types of weapon as well of obviously Sinon's bows which I have been upgrading and crafting until now. This is a very varied type of skill, and has a lot of npc quests as well for progressing the level process faster than other crafting skills. Tailoring mostly works on cloth garments, so under clothing basically, like the pyjamas I crafted for all of us and not that silly pervert stuff Lisbeth picked up... Tailoring good under shirts and pants, gloves and such can be worn underneath leather and even further metal armours on top, so there's a lot of room for customizing when considering tailoring into the design of an outfit, plus adds to what I'd be able to add with enchantments. Tailoring is something that is good and deep to consider for giving us as many buffs as possible. Next and last to mention aside from cooking which all of us already have some investment into aside Asuna and myself already being quite high level both in it as our hobbies, is accessory crafting. I haven't put on any nor shown anyone this yet since I haven't brought it to a decent level, but accessories like necklaces, rings, wrist bands, anklets, circlets and tiaras can be crafted with the accessory craft skill. These can also take on enchantments which would further increase our abilities, but it takes high level accessories to hold an enchantment of even a low level. Now, barring cooking, Lisbeth's smithing and my focuses of alchemy and enchanting, what does everyone think?"

After his explanation on the crafts and where they tied in everywhere, everyone seemed ready to suggest they work on something. Sinon immediately spoke up and took the lead however, suggesting that she pick up the wood working skill. Mostly so that she could trust the quality of the bows falling into her possession, and she would feel better about the quality of materials going out to everyone if Kirito wasn't going to be producing it primarily.

After Sinon, Silica mentioned interest in taking up the accessory crafting, which she mentioned was something that felt like fun, and reminded her of playing with her cat in real life, also named Pina.

Next, Leafa spoke up about taking on tailoring, but she was unsure since leather working more suited her stats, with the higher strength than dexterity. In the end, she chose to go with the leather working. The only profession left would be tailoring, and two people didn't have solid professions left. Asuna did of course have cooking, but her level was matched with Kirito and it seemed habit they cook together at this point. With the addition that he had more than cooking on his plate regardless...

Sachi nervously spoke up, having been timid about speaking up since everyone else was so eager to claim the different positions.

"Uh-uhm...how about Asuna-san and I work on tailoring together? It could be fun?"

Asuna had just had an experience not long before with Kirito about formally addressing her, so she wasn't going to let Sachi address her that way.

"Sachi-chan, please drop the formality when addressing me, and I'll drop the honorifics for you as well. We're all friends here. I think it could be a lot of fun if the two of us and Kirito continues working together on tailoring when Kirito is all caught up with the alchemy and enchanting. Kirito seems to have an eye for fashion, and he even changed his colour scheme from mostly black since that was the base high gear type from the dungeons, to a very nice combination you see him wearing. He could coach us in it, and his level will be higher with it for a while. All three of us. How about it, Kirito?"

Everyone noticed the difference in how Asuna was addressing Kirito. Without honorifics. It was from their time in the kitchen, the close friendly moment. However, it was news to everyone else for her to have dropped the honorifics. Everyone noticed, but nobody mentioned. As if it had become taboo somehow to bring up outside stuff. Maybe Asuna had brought it up to them before he left the kitchen for the last time.

Kirito sighed and nodded his head. He wasn't opposed to continuing all of the professions as he had been anyway, so he was certain he was getting what he was investing time into. For the time being at least, he would get everyone started in outfitting them for beginning in the pursuit of their new crafts. They would have to start with the lowest level crafts, so he urged them to sell anything normal quality to the npc vendors, and high quality until they reached the gear he would give them would be sold out to other aspiring crafting players and such.

The guild positioned themselves on the street, a large line, and Kirito coached everyone to fine details on how to perform the crafts. From how rng could be handled, to increasing the chance of high quality gear which would equal or possibly reach beyond dungeon drops. He hadn't been keeping up his crafts as high as they could go, which was a problem. With everyone focusing on certain crafts, he had chance presented to him to get to those powerful potions for example, as well with the tailoring. He could soon be making clothes as strong and more upgradeable than the leather gear since he'd be surpassing his own level on it. He'd be able to expand on the colouring everyone could wear for their gear. There were a lot of things that he could do by concentrating on those crafts, especially since a little levelling into enchanting, which nobody else was doing yet in the game, would make their entire guild completely over powered.

Customers of other players started filling the streets not long after they began, and so they started, working their way up on requests and the basics. By lunch, everyone still had a long way to go to catch up with Kirito. He didn't get much sleep aside his knock outs after all.


End file.
